It's in the Cards
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: When a book falls on Hotaru's head, she has no idea how much it will open up her world. Magic is only the beginning of her new life, as familiar faces suddenly turn into new allies...while the darker side of the world slowly draws in. New enemies and allies begin to emerge as Hotaru struggles to deal with being a new Cardcaptor.
1. Chapter 1

**As of today, my dog Tsuki Hime Serenity is no longer with us. I held her in my arms to the end, but it hurt so much I decided against going to work. It's going to be a few days before I can even think of getting a new job. She's buried with the rest of her family in the unofficial 'pet cemetary' out in my aunt's yard next to her sister and the rest along with her favorite toy.**

 **It hurts like hell losing your fur baby and favorite bed stealing buddy.**

 **Hard to believe she was ten years old when she went.**

* * *

It had been such a perfectly ordinary day.

And then a heavy hard back book hit her _hard_ on the head.

Bending down to pick it up, she looked around for where it could have fallen. It was a very pretty book with a bright red cover and a really handsome lion-creature with wings on the front. The trim and title were in gold and had a strange clasp on the side. It was nicer than any of the other books she owned, but that was to be expected when her bullies liked to damage her things.

Hotaru Sawada walked home and went straight to her room. Her mother wasn't home today either, likely dragged off by her friends to get her to 'live a little' with little to no regard of the fact she had a daughter at home.

She didn't particularly _like_ her mother's friends.

She was just coming back from getting a snack when she heard it. Someone or something was _snoring_ clear as day. In her room. When there was no one else in the house.

Cautiously, she opened the door... to find nothing. The book was still on her desk, her battered school bag on the bed.

She slowly put down the snack on her dresser, and looked around. Eventually her eyes landed once more on the odd book that had nearly brained her earlier. She picked it up to see if she could find a speaker of some sort to explain the sound of someone snoring.

Except the second she picked it up more than a few inches off the desk, there was a distinct "click" sound from the side...and the clasp came undone.

As she slowly opened it, she couldn't help but be struck by the elegant beauty of the odd cards inside. Several of them caught her eye, especially the one that looked like it was on fire.

Without even realizing it, she had four cards in her left hand to look at better and a fifth in her right to try and read. Her English wasn't that great, but it was passable enough to just barely make out what the card said.

"W-win... dy. Windy?" she read slowly, sounding out the word first.

Instinctively she held onto the cards in her hand tightly as a sudden gust of wind appeared out of nowhere, blowing the other cards everywhere. Oddly, when she was able to open her eyes she couldn't _see_ any of them. Just the five in her hands.

As if her day couldn't get any weirder, the snoring she had heard before stopped. Instead there was a bone-cracking yawn as something seemed to wake up. The cover of the book glowed as the lion-creature slowly faded and a sort of teddy bear thing emerged in it's place.

Hotaru was beyond confused and more than a little alarmed as the thing actually _spoke_. With an Osaka accent of all things.

"GAH! Where are the cards?!" said the bear thing.

"Um... do you mean these?" she asked, holding out the ones she had in her hand when the gust appeared.

"Yeah... where are the rest?"

"I was looking at the card at the top part and tried to sound out what it said on the bottom. A huuuuge gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew them away, except for these," she said sheepishly.

"Oh, is that all," said the bear easily... before he went into total freak out mode. "THEY WHAT?!"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know that would happen! The book just fell on me an hour ago and opened up on it's own!" said Hotaru upset. This was just her luck... of course the school's "dame" would cause a massive mess just by reading something.

The bear seemed to sense her mood, because he stopped looking so freaked out and looked a little closer to empathetic.

"There, there..." he said, floating to her head and patting her head, stopping her sniffles. "It can't be helped... though I have to wonder what Clow was thinking putting Windy of all things on the top! At least you managed to hold on to some of the more troublesome cards when she activated!"

In Hotaru's hands were Windy, Time, Sword, Dash and of all things, Firey. Sword and Dash were a hassle, but easy to manage... but Time and Firey would have been no end of trouble to put back in the book...especially Firey.

"I was admiring the pictures when it happened. I really like the fire one though," she admitted. "And the old man with the hourglass is too cool."

Keroberos wondered how Firey would react if she knew she had a fan. Be funny when she came out.

"Well since the rest were scattered, I suppose we have no choice. You're going to have to find and collect them before they cause too much trouble."

Hotaru had a bad feeling about that.

"Trouble?"

"The Clow Cards have a mind of their own, and without a master or mistress to reign them in they can cause all sorts of damage and havoc. Take Sword for instance! If you hadn't managed to hold onto it, it could have attached to some poor sap and made them go completely berserk while holding a bladed weapon! Or Firey, who has always been temperamental, she could have caused fires to spark all over the place!" said Keroberos.

It took him a minute to register the rising panic levels of the poor kid who had unleashed the cards. He caught several odd phrases, like 'bitten to death' and 'he is going to be so mad about this'.

The Sun Guardian couldn't help but wonder who the girl was _that_ afraid of, if the thought of the cards causing trouble immediately brought someone specific to mind in terms of punishment. And what it had to do with being "bitten to death".

"Well, what will you do? If the cards aren't collected a disaster will befall the world...they're really powerful and in the wrong hands..."

"Um... how do I collect the cards?" she asked timidly.

"Cheer up! If the book opened, that means you must have enough magical power to be able to use the cards properly! It wouldn't have picked just anyone!" said Keroberos, trying to bolster her confidence level. He could tell she desperately needed it.

Keroberos pointed at a relatively clean spot on the floor... Windy's stunt had caused a bit of a mess.

"Stand here," he said simply. "What's your name?"

Hotaru did, wondering what was going to happen now, before replying "Hotaru Sawada."

"Pretty name," said Keroberos, which made her perk up a little bit. "Key of the Seal, here stands one who wishes to enter into a contract with thee. A girl named Hotaru. Key, the girl stands before you, Release!"

The odd key-shaped pendant started to become much bigger.

"Hotaru-chan, take the staff!"

Without thinking too hard about it, she grabbed the middle of the staff which settled into her hands. She felt something _latch_ onto a power she could only vaguely remember in her dreams...back before she became the "no-good, useless" girl in school. When she could still remember being warm and clear headed and things were better.

Keroberos preened.

"Ta-da! It's the birth of a Card Captor!" he said cheerfully.

"HIE?!"

 _Two hours later..._

"Kaa-san, I found this odd animal wandering around our house. Can I keep him?" asked Hotaru with wide eyes.

"How adorable! You'll have to take good care of it, okay Taru-kun?" said Nana without even thinking too hard about it.

Keroberos, or "Kero-chan" as Hotaru had decided to call him, stared at her in disbelief.

"Seriously? Just like that?" he said to Hotaru without thinking.

"Oh it talks too! How cute!" said Nana.

Kero face-planted on the table.

"Told you she wouldn't bat an eye," said Hotaru setting the table.

"I thought you were joking," he hissed at her so her mother wouldn't hear. "And what's with 'Taru-kun'?"

"I wear mostly boy clothing. I think she's honestly forgotten she had a daughter since my father wanted a son and not me," she replied back in a voice that said she had long since come to terms with this fact, even if it still hurt. "Because of the complications of my birth, she can't have any more kids."

Kero winced hearing that.

"At least you won't have to hide around the house. Mama won't really pay much attention so long as you don't cause too much a ruckus."

Kero perked up at that.

"What about when your friends come over?"

Hotaru flinched.

"I... don't have any friends."

Ouch.

He was promptly distracted by dinner, and Nana was perfectly content to ignore the fact there was a floating bear-thing in her home that talked in an Osaka-accent that her child had decided to keep as an odd sort of pet.

* * *

"What do you mean you _dropped_ it?!"

"I didn't even realize it was gone until I made it here."

"You mean to tell me that you let something that disruptive to the peace of _my_ territory loose?!"

A shudder.

"It seems the Guardian that was attached to the book has awakened and chosen his candidate."

"They're _loose?!_ Annoying carnivore I will bite you to death for letting those things out here! You know once those pathetic herbivores catch wind of the fact _they_ are here that they'll send someone!" hissed the other voice.

"Relax. As the one who caused this mess, I am obligated to stay around and insure that the cards are properly collected and the Final Judgment is properly completed."

"You're _staying_?!" said the first voice horrified and beyond pissed. "Annoying carnivore, for causing this mess I will bite you to death!"

"Bring it on, nephew," said the second voice cheekily.

No more words were said as the first voice vented their anger and annoyance at the situation by trying to cave the skull in of the second voice. Not that he managed it, but still.

* * *

Kero was trying very hard not to cackle. The first time Hotaru-chan had used Firey and Time, the two had actually looked embarrassed and rather pleased that she had managed to hold onto them and not one of their siblings. Firey had actually _blushed_ when her new mistress had called her pretty!

Dash had happily settled in her lap, looking every bit the content rabbit. And Sword seemed to pick up on something in the town, because it looked almost disappointed it couldn't go out and explore. It perked up when Hotaru found out it could turn into a pendant... she didn't mind if the card wanted to hang out of it's standby form by staying on her collar. At least until it found out what had caught it's interest.

Not even Clow humored his cards this much... he treated them more like his children than anything.

Kero was both happy that the cards had found such a kind, gentle person to latch onto...and openly seething about things he couldn't change even though he really, really wanted to.

He had thought Hotaru was just a shy, gentle soul with a low amount of self confidence that needed a little encouragement to succeed. The first time he congratulated her over capturing her first card without causing too much damage, she had smiled so brightly it was like looking into the sun!

Then he followed her to school and had to hold himself back from ripping the idiots around her a new one.

On an unrelated note he finally found out why she was so concerned about being 'bitten to death'. Finding out he was firmly in the Hibari clan's territory under the protection of a particularly territorial Cloudy Mist teen with a penchant for violence had come as a nasty shock.

Fortunately his Mistress had no contact with that boy...she only went to the same school and the most this "Kyouya" had done to her for being late was give her a light thump on the head and a warning.

That had honestly been the _kindest_ interaction Hotaru had the entire school day.

She was being actively bullied and harassed by her classmates who seemed to take particular enjoyment in targeting her. And it wasn't _just_ the students who got into it... he had counted no less than four teachers who went after her specifically during class and then put her down when she couldn't answer the question correctly.

Not a single one bothered to encourage her at all. In fact some of the snide comments had really pissed Kero off.

So yeah, he wasn't going to comment on the fact she took comfort in the cards around her. And if _he_ was livid, then they were beyond angry at the abuse their Mistress was put through on a daily basis.

And he had wondered why she was so timid. He was of the firm opinion that being the Card Captor would be good for her... capturing them and growing her collection of 'friends' would only bolster her limited self confidence.

"So what's the deal with that Hibari kid?" he asked, trying to make small talk. In his opinion this town was the worst possible environment for the gentle girl.

Hotaru perked up.

"Hibari-sempai runs the Disciplinary Committee. He's a bit scary at times, but he's actually a lot nicer than people think."

"Nice?" said Kero incredulous.

"He only really goes after the meaner bullies that target the other students simply because they're bigger or have some form of influence. He never really hurts students like me who just try to keep our heads down in school. If we're late the most he does is give us a little minor bruising and a stern reprimand to be on time."

"'Minor bruising'?" repeated Kero incredulous.

"Considering some of my previous bullies left me with sprained or broken bones before he cracked down on that sort of thing, and the worst I have to deal with is the snide comments and a few disruptive pranks..." shrugged Hotaru. "Our school is honestly safer than most of the others in town because Hibari has a zero- tolerance for bullies and 'fake carnivores' in his words. It's the only reason I even bother to go to school, because I know he'll go after anyone that tries anything too serious in a heartbeat the second he finds out about it...and his people are always patrolling the grounds."

"And the 'bite to death' thing?" asked Kero. It wasn't good, but it was far better than he feared. It seemed this kid was big on maintaining the peace and order of the area, rather than dominating everyone like he expected.

"Everyone has their quirks," shrugged Hotaru. "Besides, he only really challenges people who actually _have_ some skill in fighting."

Kero relaxed at that. From the sound of things and the limited information he had gathered during the past three days since waking up, this Hibari Kyouya was an honorable sort, one who was in dire need of a proper opponent he could match himself with. However he wasn't so desperate that he went after those weaker than him...instead he seemed to take on the role of a protective lone wolf, keeping the area safe for the smaller, weaker animals in his territory like Hotaru.


	2. Chapter 2

Hotaru was taking a slightly different route home, mostly to see if she could use her limited skills to sense the cards to find one before it went active.

Except Sword was acting increasing excited, so she let the card dictate where to go.

And found herself outside a small dojo where a man was practicing with an old, and clearly semi-magical sword.

Somehow she had the feeling this was what the Sword card had picked up on.

The man noticed her when he finished his set, before smiling. It took her a moment to realize that it was the man who owned the best sushi shop in town.

"Hello there!" he said in a friendly way.

"Um... hello Tsuyoshi-san," she replied. "What sort of sword is that?"

Tsuyoshi looked at the katana in his hand.

"This is Shigure Kintoki. It's a family heirloom that's been passed down for generations," he replied. "What about yours?"

Hotaru realized with some shock that Sword had left the form of a pin on her shirt and took it's full form. More so, it was clearly wanting to go say "hi" to Shigure Kintoki.

She would prefer not to ask how that would work, for her own sanity. If pressed she would claim magic and not ask further.

"Um... it's called the Sword card. I think it noticed yours, which would explain why it seemed to happy when it woke up."

Tsuyoshi hid his reaction to the way Shigure Kintoki seemed to feel almost _cheerful_ when the "Sword Card" came near it.

Like Hotaru, he decided to play the "Let's not ask headache-inducing questions on what's happening" game... though the sight of Sword in it's released state could be seen in the dojo during school hours right below his family blade after the two properly introduced themselves.

Kero had looked exasperated... right up until he tried the sushi. Then he pretended not to notice the fact that the Sword Card had apparently made a very odd friend in another magical sword. Odds were that the card would pick up a few things from Shigure Kintoki and pass them on to Hotaru later when she needed it.

Clow certainly hadn't given it much selection when he made the card, being barely competent when it came to using a sword in the first place.

Though it didn't stop him from looking completely and utterly exasperated when, after finally locating the Fight card and managing to wear it down long enough to capture it, Hotaru did something Clow never would have.

"You _let_ Fight play with that crazy boxer kid?"

"Ryohei-sempai is a bit...extreme... but he's also very nice if you get to know him. He's so dedicated to his sport that he's always trying to get people into his club... but people are put off by him so he never has anyone to properly practice with. And Fight seemed to be really happy sparring with him, so I thought they could play together," said Hotaru helplessly.

Fight absolutely adored her Mistress for that. Not only did she get to fight a worthy opponent, but she didn't mind if she sought out decent opponents to improve their skills. There was this one boy that looked like he could be a really good fighter that she hadn't had the chance to test before the Sun Guardian tracked her down.

* * *

Hotaru was very confused when she found a note in her shoes after school.

Still, she had the sealing wand around her neck, so she should be safe enough.

Needless to say she was beyond shocked at seeing Hibari-sempai waiting for her.

"Herbivore."

"Hibari-sempai," she squeaked.

"I know those nuisances were let loose and you have the Fight in your possession."

It took her a moment to realize what was actually going on, before bone deep relief came across her features. Of course Hibari-sempai would want to test if Fight was a worthy opponent. No one else in town could keep up with him.

"You know about the cards?" she asked, already reaching for Fight. It seemed to thrum in her hands with anticipation.

Hibari looked irritable.

"My clan and the Li have had a long standing rivalry long before they were made. Their existence wasn't that big a secret considering how much the Li bragged about one of their members creating them and the guardians attached."

He did raise an eyebrow at the sealing wand, but there was a gleam of anticipation in his eyes as she unleashed "Fight". The 'girl' looked at Hotaru who smiled.

"Have fun, and try not to do too much damage to the school. It upsets Hibari-sempai," she told her.

Fight grinned wildly and went after Hibari without any warning which suited him just fine.

Hotaru sat on the roof and pulled out her homework. It wasn't until she no longer heard the vague sound of two people trying to beat each other up that she registered Hibari's presence. He looked very unhappy about something.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, picking up the math worksheet she was trying and failing to get through.

"Class. The teacher handed them out, why?"

"Which teacher?" he pressed.

"Nezu-sensei."

Hibari scowled.

"Did everyone get the same sheets or did he single out specific students?"

"I noticed the kid across from me had slightly different questions, but he's never cared when I brought it up."

In fact that particular teacher took a great deal of pleasure in reminding her of her math grades and making a big deal about how stupid she was in a barely subtle manner if she couldn't understand the questions on the sheet. And if she tried to point out the sheets were different, he accused her of trying to copy another student's work.

Hibari made a mental note to find out who was the teacher in charge of Sawada's math class and bite them to death. The fact the fool was deliberately trying to sabotage a student pissed him off.

Hotaru turned to Fight who looked exhausted, but distinctly pleased. She was in a very happy mood, she could tell. So was Hibari, underneath his strange annoyance over her math sheets.

 _Two days later..._

Hotaru had been dreading math class. Hibari had confiscated her math sheets and two others and never gave them back. The only thing she _had_ been able to do was her English homework, which Kero helped her with since he actually _knew_ how to speak and read English. Then again he had spent most of his early years in England, and had picked it up from Clow.

So while most of his knowledge was a tad outdated, it was still more than Hotaru had.

She had to blink at the unfamiliar and very nervous teacher.

"Um... hello. I'm your new math teacher," he said.

"What happened to Nezu-sensei?" demanded Hana Kurokawa, best friend of Kyoko, the class idol.

The teacher looked very uncomfortable and nervous now.

"Due to certain circumstances that have come to light, he has been permanently let go," he said.

Everyone turned in the sheets, though only Hotaru noticed that the new teacher went through them while they did a pop quiz and set at least four or five of them aside. He didn't even ask where her papers were.

Somehow she had the feeling this had something to do with why Hibari looked so annoyed when he saw her homework. And why Kero had looked very unhappy while watching her do her math homework... all he would say on the matter was that something was clearly wrong with it because she was lucky to get one in three right.

A day later, Hana tracked Hotaru down to get answers. Two other teachers had been fired and summarily replaced by the Disciplinary Committee followed by suspicious pop quizzes the same day as the replacement being brought in.

"What did you do Sawada? Every single one of the teachers Hibari had fired targeted you in particular, and now they've all been banned from teaching again."

"What?" she squeaked.

"Hibari bit Nezu-sensei to death over something, and the only commonality between the teachers is that they've all targeted you," said Hana flatly.

"I don't know! Hibari-sempai confiscated most of my worksheets a few days ago and looked really angry about something! That's all I know!" she squeaked fearfully.

Hana frowned. With the way the weakest kid in her class was acting you'd think Hana was about to hit them or something. She wasn't too sure if Sawada was a boy or a girl, considering how they always wore clothing slightly too big to reveal anything specific to gender. And she had never seen the other kid in anything remotely feminine, but there were times she thought she saw something.

"Hibari confiscated your worksheets?"

"He asked me where I got my math homework. He looked really irritated with the fact I told him the teacher gave it to me."

"Was there anything about the sheets?"

"Only that it was different from the ones that he handed to the boy next to me," said Hotaru.

"Different how?"

"The questions were different and I can never make heads or tails of them whenever he hands them out. And there was only ever references to some of the things on the sheet in our textbook," said Hotaru.

Hana was beginning to paint a very specific picture in her mind. It sounded like Nezu-sensei had given Sawada the wrong sheets on purpose and Hibari found out about it. And he found something that pissed him off enough that he bit the math teacher to death before having him fired and banned from teaching ever again.

Come to think of it, all three teachers who were fired had been particularly cruel to Sawada and a few others.

Hana noticed how skittish Sawada was.

"Geez Sawada, you'd think I was going to hit you or something with how you're shrinking into yourself," she said exasperated.

Sawada _flinched_.

Hana was beginning to form a very unpleasant picture she had been unconsciously ignoring until now. The only reason she had even _noticed_ Sawada in the first place was because they had been visiting the boxing gym when Ryohei was in at least twice a week. And Ryohei always came out of the visits looking far more cheerful and relaxed than normal.

"What's your relationship with Sasegawa Ryohei?" asked Hana seriously.

Sawada somewhat relaxed.

"Nothing outside friendly acquaintances. I have a friend who likes to fight as much as he does, but she would have a lot of difficulty visiting because of the Disciplinary Committee so I've been sneaking her onto school grounds so they can spar in the ring. I think Hibari-sempai might want to fight her more often as well, because they looked like they were having fun before he confiscated my sheets."

Fight had actually _hugged_ her for letting her play with Hibari. She was really happy after getting a chance to test herself against him.

Kero always had a rather odd look at the way she arranged things to make the cards happy. Like the way she made sure to drop Sword off with Tsuyoshi to 'chat' with his family sword. Or how she let Fight play with Ryohei and Hibari, and let Time nap in the odd cuckoo clock in her room while Dash napped on her bed during school hours.

Flower took great pleasure in taking over the garden, and Jump was always trying to coax Dash into playing with it.

The one thing that struck her the most was how much the cards _loved_ her and were particularly eager to help retrieve their friends. And how quickly new cards seemed to warm up to her, even if they were violent before.

* * *

"...That is adorable."

"Annoying carnivore, shut up."

**Click**

"...Did you just take a picture?" asked the second voice incredulous.

"I am so saving this for my wallpaper," said the first smugly.

"I will bite you to death, annoying carnivore," growled the second. Meanwhile the feathery creature on his head cooed and put it's head under it's wing.

"But it's too adorable, the way Fly seems intent on staying with you!" said the first a little too gleefully.

"Die."

Fly blearily glared at the second voice, before roosting on the tree outside as the two fought like cats and dogs. Didn't stop it from returning to the taller one's head once he was beaten and claiming it's spot a second time.

The first voice cooed again and took multiple pictures...for blackmail purposes of course.

* * *

Hotaru looked at her report card with open disbelief. Naturally the look on her face was enough to get one of the more snide kids in class to steal it from her in an attempt to embarrass her about her grades.

"Check out the Dame's grades everybody!" sneered Hiroto.

"...I don't see what you're so smug about. So Sawada got mostly C's...what's the big deal?" said Hana sharply.

That stopped the usual taunting short, as the bullies actually _looked_ at Hotaru's grades.

"There's no way... how the hell did the Dame get something above a D? You have to have cheated!"

Hotaru flinched at the accusation. Surprisingly it was Hana who came to her rescue.

"Or it could be that the teachers were given an actual warning about deliberately sabotaging certain students," snapped Hana with an acerbic tone. "Or did none of you notice that all the teachers who got replaced by Hibari were the _same_ idiots who harassed Sawada in the first place?"

The implications that Sawada might have gained the dubious protection of _Hibari_ was enough to disperse the worst of them and even hand back her report card without trying to damage it. No one sane wanted to piss off Hibari Kyouya.

"Thank you," she said quietly to Hana.

"Apparently Nezu-sensei was handing you the sheets for the advanced calculus classes for the year above us," said Hana.

The others were fired not for the obvious sabotage, but because Hibari had gotten several witnesses who all commented on the fact they openly told Sawada that the only thing she would be good for was to spread her legs for anyone who would pay her. The fact they were openly making comments to a student like that had pissed him off.

It was with some surprise that Hana actually pulled Hotaru to sit with her and Kyoko during lunch. She never had anyone to actually share it with before.

"I have to ask... are you a boy or a girl?" asked Hana bluntly. Hotaru winced.

"I'm a girl."

Kyoko stared at her in surprise.

"Really? Then why are you wearing the boy's uniform?"

And why hasn't Hibari come after you for wearing the wrong one, went unsaid but definitely implied.

"In case you haven't noticed, nearly every boy in the school has at some point become very insufferable around the girls once puberty hit. You can't have missed the way they seem to gravitate to certain girls," said Hotaru.

Kyoko nodded slowly...she still got love confessions, but had turned them all down.

"Well once puberty starting hitting most of the class and the teachers all forced us to take Sex Ed for a semester, I went and looked up some of the things they were talking about... it was a bit of an eye opener, especially when I realized the danger I was in since no one has ever cared enough to speak up in my defense against the bullying and harassment."

Hana caught what she was implying, but wouldn't admit outright.

"You're afraid that if the boys knew you were a girl, they'd try to assault you in one of the areas where Hibari's goons don't patrol," she said in realization. Even Hana knew there were areas of the school that the Disciplinary Committee didn't patrol so well because of how rarely they were used. It could take precious minutes to get to a student in trouble...minutes that could make a major difference if the attack was bad enough.

"There's a reason I will go out of my way to only take well-patrolled and traveled routes in the school," said Hotaru. "Even if it means I'm late to class."

Considering her reputation and lack of defense against the bullies in school, her only defense was misdirection and staying far, far away from any area that was remote enough that it took longer than a few minutes for one of the DC to reach it. None of them would _dare_ come after her in an area where one of Hibari's men would hear her scream and report it immediately to their boss, who would make his anger known in spades to the point he would hospitalize the offenders.

Hana could only nod in sympathy. Considering she had only taken notice of Sawada because of the frequency _she_ went to the boxing club and the fact that she was the common denominator in the teachers being replaced.

At least Hotaru had made a tentative friendship in Hana and Kyoko.


	3. Chapter 3

Hibari took _one_ look at the new transfer student from, surprise, surprise, China and knew he would be trouble.

He might be disguising his name, but Hibari knew a _Li_ when he saw one. And this Syaoran was obviously sent to reclaim the cards.

Well, he wasn't going to make it that easy for the fool to bother the girl who had managed to bond with the cards.

She had taken one look at the way Fly was acting, and came up with an agreement everyone could live with. Fly would agree to let her capture it, and in return she would allow it to stay outside card form and be around Hibari as a 'pet' of sorts.

Hotaru had found that the stronger the bond between the cards and whoever their Master/Mistress was, the less they actually _needed_ the cards to use their powers. She could call upon Fight, Sword, Dash, Jump and Windy without having to bring out the cards or the staff...she just had to concentrate and focus on which one she needed to use.

Kero had been very impressed with that, saying it was an advanced trick that Clow had never bothered to learn because he didn't actually _need_ the cards to cast the same spells. For her to do it instinctively said she had a lot of potential.

Hibari scowled and promptly slated this "Syaoran" into a different class entirely. His placement test made it pathetically easy to put the idiot in his own class...which coincidentally also held Ryohei Sasegawa. Hibari might not bother with class that often, but that didn't mean his grades had ever dared to slip past an A minus.

With a few strokes of his pen, "Syaoran" was firmly placed in the grade above Hotaru Sawada. Who he had yet to reprimand for wearing the wrong uniform once one of his spies in her class reported the reasoning behind _why_ she wasn't dressed like a girl.

Considering the shocking lack of care and regard for her, he couldn't entirely blame her for hiding her gender once puberty hit. He found the entire situation far too odd, because it had been going like this for _years_.

The only real change in her daily life was the Cards, which implied something had been freed when the cards were scattered.

Hibari glared at the student profile. He could just tell this brat was going to be a disruptive influence on _his_ territory. At least he wouldn't have any end to excuses for biting him to death.

Syaoran was scowling. While he had found the school the Card Captor was in, for some reason they had put him in the year above hers and there were absolutely no classes in which their paths would cross. Not even the lunch hour.

And there was this one classmate who had taken the news he knew some martial arts as a reason to try and forcibly recruit him into the boxing club! The boy was so loud, he would swear he had lost his hearing at one point!

And the less said about a _Hibari_ in his class, the better. If he had known that the stupid girl was in the same school as one of that clan he would have raised a bigger protest or demanded back up!

He could tell right away that the older teen knew _exactly_ who he was. The fact that the boy had claimed the school as part of his territory to the point no one questioned him made it blatantly obvious he had stepped firmly in enemy territory. Whether or not he was aware of the cards being active in town was still up for debate. It was pretty telling that the way he was being openly observed by the violent teen with the steel-colored eyes and odd bird on his shoulder (and most definitely _not_ in a friendly manner) had caused a massive rift between him and the other students.

Apparently if Hibari Kyouya was looking at you like that, then it meant you were on his short list to be 'bitten to death' and no one wanted anything to do with you. Everyone who caught the way he looked at Syaoran would avoid the transfer on principle and were very reluctant to have anything to do with him.

The one thing that bugged him was that bird on Hibari's shoulder. He could _sense_ the magic coming off that thing, so there was no way it was normal in the least! In fact he would almost swear it was a Clow Card, but that was ridiculous!

What sort of idiot would allow the cards to wander around freely like that without keeping an eye on them?

A few hours later when Syaoran was more or less dragged to the boxing club, he found his eyebrow twitching rampantly. His estimation of the girl who had scattered the cards only dropped even _lower_ the second he realized who, or more specifically _what_ was in the club waiting patiently.

Everyone called her "Fi", but that was clearly a Clow Card waiting by the wall for someone. Judging by the way it was acting and the fact she was openly sparring with the loudmouth who dragged him to the club, he would bet his sword on that being the _Fight_ card.

And yet no one was even batting an eye on her presence. In fact they almost seemed relieved to see her there.

"Who's that?" he asked one club member.

"Fi? She's Sawada's friend. You have no idea how glad we were that the school idiot managed to find someone able to match Ryohei-sempai in a fight. Having her around keeps him from bothering us."

"School idiot?" repeated Syaoran incredulous.

"Well yeah, everyone knows them as Dame-Sawada. They're the clumsiest, least academic student in the school, though rumors have it that they have something to do with why several teachers were fired and forcibly replaced."

Syaoran's face was openly twitching.

The girl was openly known in the school as a clumsy idiot, and she let the cards run around rampant to the point people recognized them on sight.

Clearly the clan hadn't sent him soon _enough_ , if things were this bad!

Fight took one look at him and scowled. Then she did something that he never would have expected out of a card...she stuck her tongue out at him.

It was clear from her body language alone that she was openly dismissive towards him, which lead to everyone subtly avoiding him.

It was a very disconcerting feeling.

Syaoran withheld his disbelief at the fact the small teddy bear thing was in fact the great guardian beast Keroberos. His expression must have said volumes, but he kept his tongue.

Instead he rounded on the stupid girl who had only just managed to capture the card without causing a mess.

She barely even _looked_ like a girl and the only reason he knew she was one was because the visions had made it clear the new Card Captor was a female. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes were positively baggy, and she had absolutely no confidence about her.

"This is who you chose to be the new master of the cards? A scruffy nobody that's stupid enough to let the cards run wild?" he scoffed.

The girl flinched openly. Keroberos glared at him.

"She might not look like much, but she has more potential than you do, gaki!" he snapped.

"She can barely capture a card without causing a disaster! Her own school knows her as a clumsy loser!" he said loudly.

She flinched a second time and seemed to shrink into herself. Syaoran looked at her derisively, and she seemed to wilt in herself.

"Pathetic. I can't even understand why the great guardian beast would chose someone like you to reclaim the cards, unless he was absolutely desperate. You should just hand over the staff and all the ones you've collected before you embarrass yourself further."

Kero nearly ripped him a new one. However he was beaten to the punch by Firey appearing without warning to hiss at the brat.

Syaoran backed up, drawing his elemental seals out in alarm with wide eyes. He watched in disbelief as Firey seemed to coil around Hotaru protectively and making it clear who their Master was.

Kero looked at the temperamental Element card with approval, before smirking at the interloper.

"Yeah, try getting her and Fight away from Hotaru-chan. Hell, I'd like to see you try and claim Fly away from Hibari!"

"How can you allow them to walk freely among humans?!" he demanded. It made no sense.

"They behave and it makes them happy," said Hotaru quietly. "Sword was very happy to find a sentient sword to talk with while I'm at school and Fight is happy because she has new people to spar with and improve her own skills. And Fly adores Hibari-sempai."

Kero had his own suspicions about the odd lack of uproar over the cards. It wasn't that Hibari was very good at tamping down the odd rumors... it was like there was a weird aura around the town that made it easier to accept the odd and unusual to the point people would merely roll their eyes so long as there was no immediate danger involved. It wasn't just Nana that had a weird reaction to this whole mess... Hotaru had found several of the cards window shopping once and none of the shopkeepers had done more than give the cards odd looks while Hotaru paid for a few little things the cards had expressed an interest in. Mirror in particular had been thrilled when Hotaru gave her a few pretty ribbons to put in her hair, while Wood had been thrilled with the small bonsai that now sat in Hotaru's room.

The cards should have been causing more of a fuss...and yet people had accepted their presence to the point they barely batted an eye at their presence!

To say nothing of the number of latent and active Flames in the area. The town seemed to be a place where they could quietly disappear from the criminal underground in peace.

And the limited organized crime in the town knew better than to piss off the Cloud kid...any 'dealings' were firmly done outside town limits from what he saw.

This kid had no idea what he had walked into... this wasn't just a normal civilian town... this was a place where it was impossible to have underworld connections in some way. And not just the Triads, because Kero had seen definite signs of the Cosa Nostra around.

Syaoran left, but the damage had been done.

Hotaru tried to hide the fact she was crying, but they knew what the boy had said to her had cut deep.

"Don't listen to that brat. The only reason he's here is because the book was stolen from the clan and they've been trying to get it back ever since. He has no idea what the real you is like."

"But...what if he's right?" said Hotaru, eyes red from tears. "Why did you pick me outside of convenience sake?"

Kero was so going to bite that kid in the ass later when he regained his true form. Hotaru was only now starting to gain some real confidence in herself both as a girl and as a person. The sniping comments that brat was almost certain to make could set what little progress they had made back months at best!

Hotaru cuddled with Dash and Jump... and to her surprise even Fly showed up five minutes later to nuzzle her hair.

"Hotaru-chan, it takes more than magical ability to be able to use the cards the way you do. They wouldn't bond with just anyone to the point you don't even need to summon the wand or pull the card out! I've never actually seen the cards this happy around anyone. Even Clow never let them out like this."

Hotaru winced at that. Kero quickly realized his error.

"I mean he never would have let Sword spend so much time with another sentient blade, or let Fight spar with people who enjoy it as much as she does. Or allow Time to snooze in an old clock and let Wood nurture a bonsai tree. They _love_ you dearly and it shows in the way they allow you to use them without having to bring the cards out! There's no way they'd ever want to work with that brat unless he forced them too. They like you too much."

"Really?"

Fly pecked her lightly on the head.

"See? Even Fly adores you because you let them stay with that violent Cloud kid and roam around freely. No other magician would have let them have this much freedom with so few restrictions."

"Mama does love shopping with Mirror and the others. She's actually around more."

Nana had slowly started to drop her 'friends' in favor of the Clow Cards. They might not speak, but there was a sort of silent communication going on between the human and the cards when it came to shopping.

Kero patted her shoulder.

"See? I'm sure once all the cards are collected you'll prove that brat once and for all that you deserve to be their master. I doubt he'll treat them as anymore more than tools, with how he's behaving," said Kero.

"Why would anyone treat them like tools?" she asked, baffled. "They're clearly alive enough to have minds of their own."

"Yeah, but most see them only as magical artifacts and not as sentient constructs. You treat them like they're your family or your best friends and it shows," said Kero.

Hotaru had been so desperate for someone to talk to, to share things with, that she had latched onto the knowledge that the cards were sentient magical constructs and treated them accordingly.

Though even Kero was beyond baffled as to why Time had bonded with her so fast... it was almost like she had a natural knack for time magic or something.

"That boy was anything but subtle about his disdain in the girl. I'm not sure he'll achieve much when the Final Judgment arrives."

"Hmph. He's not even worthy of being a carnivore. I wonder why _he_ was sent and not someone with actual tact."

"Likely because he's the heir and he's close enough in age to try and get close to her without causing suspicion. Or worse, attempt to seduce her into the clan," said the other voice in disgust.

"Not with that attitude he isn't," said the second. There was a hint of possessiveness in his voice.

The first took immediate notice of this fact and grinned.

"O-ho... has my little nephew started to develop an interest in a female?"

The second growled.

"Die."

"I'm merely asking as your concerned older male relative. You do know the basics of courtship at least, right?" he needled.

The first easily dodged the attacks while continuing on about "protection" and "being a gentleman", ignoring the fact it only made the second even more bloodthirsty and pissed off.


	4. Chapter 4

He was observing the town and the way they interacted with the cards. In any other city, the cards would have been forced to hide what they were, what they could do. Fight, for instance, never would have been allowed to improve their skills at martial arts with humans. Clow would have been too worried about her hurting the humans in question with her superior skills or just power.

And Sword never would have had the chance to be "friends" with Shigure Kintoki or any other sentient sword simply because while Clow was open minded, he never would have entertained the idea that Sword had a mind and could "communicate" with other sentient swords.

Humans might not be able to 'hear' what they were saying, but Hotaru could still tell that Sword was happy because it had made a friend.

Hotaru was rather shocked when Takeshi Yamamoto opted to help her clean the classroom, rather than join his friends outside on the baseball field. Then again, it was a small room and he was the star baseball player...he could afford to be late.

The two cleaned the room with a peaceful silence, right up until Takeshi broke it.

Hotaru patiently listened to him talk about baseball. It was clear he was asking for something other than advice on how to handle his baseball career in school.

He wanted someone to listen to him and help him figure out what to do with his life. He would always love baseball, that much was in his blood... but it was clear he was starting to have doubts about the team he was on.

It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't just a figurative rain cloud over Yamamoto's head... there was a pair of Clow Cards hovering over him making a figurative "cloud" into a real one.

Hotaru sighed in exasperation at the little sprites who were positively giggling at the Takeshi's confusion and slight amusement.

"Ahahaha... are these little guys friends of yours, Sawada?" he asked.

"Alright you two, Yamamoto doesn't need a cold on top of what he's going through. You don't need to make a _literal_ rain cloud to show his mood."

The two pouted.

"Rain, Cloud, if you want to play that's fine, but right now is a time for a serious talk. Just try not to make too big a mess in the room for us to clean," she said gently, patting them on the head. She had an impish thought. "In fact if you want to have a bit of fun, wait until we're done here and you can go put a cloud over Hibari-sempai. I know Kero's made several comments about how 'cloudy' his mood is."

Takeshi snickered at that. Hibari-sempai did always look like he had a dark cloud around his mood whenever he was extra "bitey". The two sprites chased each other around the classroom, careful not to make a mess.

Hotaru gently put her hand on Takeshi's shoulder, frowning at the slight tension she felt under her hand.

"Yamamoto-kun, I know how much you love baseball... but I honestly think you would be better off quitting the team. At least until they get it in their heads that they shouldn't force the bulk of the pressure to win games on your shoulders alone. I've seen several of them during practice hours at the arcade instead of on the field, while you're always putting your all into your game. Last I checked, baseball is a _team_ sport," said Hotaru.

There was an unidentifiable expression in his eyes. He looked so lost it made her heart break. He had put so much effort into "Takeshi the Baseball Star" that he genuinely didn't know what to do with himself without it.

It took him a few moments to register the gentle hug from the shyest kid in class. And a certain fact that he hadn't been aware of until now.

"Ahahaha... You're a girl?" he asked in surprise.

"There's a reason why I wear the boy's uniform," she said simply. "I really think you should see a doctor after school to check your shoulder... it felt too tense when I touched it and I don't think that's a good thing at all. At the very least you should take a week off from practicing."

Takeshi rubbed his head, internally wincing at the pain in his shoulder.

"I'll think about it."

"If you want, I can walk with you to the clinic to get your shoulder checked out," she said, unaware that her eyes were glowing a light amber the color of the setting sun. It was clear that she wasn't going to let him get away with not going to see a doctor about his arm.

Takeshi felt a strange warmth realizing that the most bullied kid in school cared enough to make sure he actually went to the doctor because they were honestly worried about his health. And not because it might impact his baseball game.

When they finished cleaning, Hotaru called the two sprites to her...and to his amazement they turned into cards. With the practiced hand of someone who did this often, she wrote her name on the bottom...right as the door slammed open revealing a very irritable Syaoran Li.

Seeing the cards in her hand and the fact she had already signed them, Syaoran scowled in annoyance and irritation. The look he shot at Takeshi simply for being there said _volumes_.

Takeshi knew without hesitation that he'd never get along with the Chinese transfer student. Besides, the looks he was giving Hotaru really pissed him off. He didn't even realize how or why, but at some point he took an instinctive protective stance next to her with his eyes turning dark and lethal while glaring at the other boy.

They were the eyes of a killer who had yet to blood his hands, but would do so without hesitation if given a good enough reason. The eyes of a natural hit man.

Syaoran shivered in quiet horror as the revelation of what sort of person the taller boy was and what he was almost certainly capable of crawled through his brain.

"Can we help you?" asked Takeshi, his voice low and dark. The unspoken things in his tone said volumes of how dangerous he can and would be if pushed.

Hotaru instinctively fell behind Takeshi, using him as a shield against the boy in the doorway. There was a strange sense ofsafety and protection, being this close to Takeshi despite the fact they barely knew each other.

Syaoran knew when to cut his losses. He left without a word, though inwardly he was fighting not to run far in the other direction.

He was definitely calling for back-up the first chance he had. This situation was getting way out of hand and if what he suspected was true, then it was almost certainly going to get worse...for _him._

Takeshi turned to Hotaru, who had an open sense of relief about her.

"What's his problem?" he asked.

"You know the sprites that were playing in here earlier?"

He nodded.

"One of his ancestors created them a really long time ago along with others. Except someone stole the book they were in and they were really mad about that fact. So when they started waking up, they sent him to get the book back," she explained.

All true without giving any actual details to get either of them in trouble. Hotaru wouldn't have said that much, but Takeshi was giving off a strange feeling off him that said she could trust him completely. That he would protect her if she was willing to let him. The only other people she got that feeling from were Ryohei and Hibari-sempai.

Though in Hibari's case, she had the distinct feeling that she had to prove herself _worthy_ of him before he was willing to take up such a role. Almost like a particularly proud and aloof panther or other great cat that had yet to determine if she was pack or prey.

In any case, Hotaru acted as Takeshi's silent support to the clinic. The doctor nearly had an apoplectic fit when he heard that the coach not only _hadn't_ noticed or cared about the fact Takeshi was clearly over-straining his dominant arm to the point he was starting to develop the early stages of tendinitis or even tennis elbow, but he was actively pushing Takeshi to practice harder without noticing the obvious strain the boy was under. Not only that, but he wasn't putting nearly as much emphasis on teamwork and practice on his weaker players as he should have.

Having a certified doctor's note that explicitly stated he wasn't allowed to use his right arm for anything besides homework and very light work for a month, Takeshi was rather torn.

He had built most of his social schedule around baseball and the popularity it had given him. Being suddenly told he had to put it off for a full month (there was an implied "or else" in the doctor's tone) made him unsettled.

Hotaru had remained outside in the waiting room until he came out.

"What did they say?"

"I'm on restricted use for a month. I'm not allowed to practice at all because of how dangerously over-strained my arm is," said Takeshi dully. He had also been given some mild painkillers, just barely above the common over the counter drugs like Advil or Tylenol.

Something seemed to pass in Hotaru's expression as that strange amber colored glow flickered across her eyes.

"...How good are you at the baseball video games?" she asked, already coming up with a good way to distract Takeshi from the fact he wasn't allowed to play real baseball for at least a month.

"Ahahaha... I have a bunch of them, but I don't have anyone to play with since all my friends complained I got too into the game," he admitted. It had been a while since he dusted off his game console, actually.

"I have a video game otaku that lives in my house who's been dying for a real opponent," she replied.

She had the feeling Kero might not like the fact she was revealing the Clow Cards and him to an outsider, but something told her that she _needed_ to give Takeshi a distraction or he would do something drastic.

Besides, none of the cards were really into video games like he was.

It was only as they were walking into a familiar sushi restaurant that things livened up a bit.

"Hey dad. I'm back."

"Wait... Tsuyoshi-san is your dad?!" said Hotaru in shock.

Tsuyoshi, in the spirit of fathers everywhere, took one look at the the way they had walked in together and decided to poke fun at the fact Takeshi had come back with a cute girl.

"Just coming back from a date?" he joked.

Seeing the girl blush and his son's open embarrassment, Tsuyoshi grinned.

"No! I was just making sure Takeshi actually _went_ to the doctor since I noticed how much pain he was in. He would have put it off otherwise."

Any amusement at the knowledge his son was acting friendly to the girl with the odd sword died a quick death.

"What happened?" he asked, dead serious.

Takeshi rubbed the back of his head nervously, and now that he was looking for it he could see his son wincing from the use of his right arm.

"The doctor said I'm showing a lot of signs for tendinitis. If I hadn't had it checked when I did, then I could have seriously hurt or even ruined my dominant arm. He was pretty mad when he found out the coach kept pressuring me to practice more instead of actually noticing I was in pain, with the way my batting averages have been dropping lately."

Tsuyoshi winced... he hadn't even noticed his son was in pain either.

"How did you know?" he asked Hotaru.

"He came to me for advice, since I'm one of the only people in class who don't make a big deal about his popularity or baseball in general. I noticed he flinched when I touched his arm, which was far too tense to be normal so I basically made him go to the doctor," said Hotaru.

Tsuyoshi felt relief that at least someone had cared enough to catch his son's health was declining.

As Hotaru joined Takeshi at the counter, Tsuyoshi carefully observed the way the two were interacting. And he began to notice something rather odd about his son's behavior around her.

Takeshi was acting almost protective and was paying very close attention to her words and body language. In fact it was almost like he was trying to win her approval for something, though he clearly had no idea why or even that he was doing it.

Tsuyoshi almost paused as he was trying to recall when he'd last seen this behavior. It was very, very familiar and he was having trouble placing why...until it hit him like a brick.

Allowing his Flames to come out just enough to get a read on the room and let a sense of Tranquility enter the atmosphere, he nearly dropped his knives in shock when he realized what was going on in front of him.

Takeshi's Flames had long been on the verge of going active after Sword starting showing up to visit their family blade. (He still wasn't going to ask what the two blades were doing... the situation was odd enough as it was.)

However as he was slowly making some food for the two teenagers, he could clearly feel his son's inactive Flames instinctively reaching out for something. Something that was sitting _right next to him_.

Now he remembered where he had seen this sort of behavior before. Takeshi was acting like an Element that was unknowingly courting a Sky in the hopes of a bond. And if he was reading the situation right, Hotaru's Flames (which he could just barely feel flickering at the edge of his senses...something seemed to be interfering with them) were _reciprocating_.

Paying close attention to the girl in front of him without making it obvious, he could clearly feel Sky Flames coming off her in erratic and irregular amounts. Which was odd, because with what she was up to lately she should have at least gone Active by now.

Unless she already _was_ and some idiot had put a seal on her.

From what he could feel, it seemed she was slowly breaking down whatever was interfering with her Flames on her own. It just needed one good push to break it and unleash them.

Well... he wasn't about to stop his son from courting a potential Sky, and at least he knew Takeshi would be in good hands with Hotaru. She was a gentle and kind soul who genuinely cared about others, whether they were human or not.

Though he happily pleaded ignorance when Hotaru brought over that odd floating bear she called "Kero-chan" who took one look at the fact Takeshi had a bunch of sports games and gleefully challenged him to a match. The two had an amusing, if weird rivalry going on between them which helped to distract Takeshi from the fact he was forced to drop baseball for a month.

Though Tsuyoshi wasn't the _least_ bit surprised when, after his arm healed Takeshi asked to learn how to use the sword. If he was right and his son was starting to be drawn to Hotaru as her Rain, then it was only inevitable.


	5. Chapter 5

Meilin expected a lot of things coming to Namimori. Finding out her cousin had pissed off nearly the _entire_ town and was considered the least liked student in the school was not one of them.

Okay, after asking around she could totally get why the other students disliked him. But in all honestly she didn't get his animosity towards the Card Captor girl at all. It was completely one-sided, as the girl (her name was Hotaru) was simply too timid and shy to consider hating Syaoran as much as he disliked her.

To say nothing of the shock she got when she saw several of the Clow Cards around the area without going on a rampage and being generally accepted as _normal_. Fight was regularly sparring with some boxing-crazed nut from Syaoran's class and the Hibari heir. Fly was acting the part of a pet _bird_ at Hibari's side. She saw several of the lesser cards like Wood, Flower, and Mirror in the shopping center with a normal woman getting groceries who wasn't the least bit bothered by the fact they couldn't talk in the conventional sense.

What was going on with this town?

Meilin was many things, but an idiot was not one of them. There was something more behind her cousin's erratic behavior than _just_ his ire at the fact that Hotaru wasn't even trying to hide the cards like any "proper" magician should. In fact she seemed to find little ways to hide them in plain sight, which oddly enough seemed to work in a weird way.

It wasn't until she accidentally bumped against the girl that she was finally clued in to what might actually be going on.

Oh. OH.

Syaoran had been tested a year before the cards went active, and the clan had discovered he was a Latent Storm with a strong secondary in Lightning flames. Not that they would ever teach him how to become Active, since the underworld apparently decided they had a claim on any who had Flames, but the Flame alignment generally went hand in hand with magical predisposition.

Just as Meilin was perfectly well aware that she was a Lightning with an alignment towards Sun secondary.

At least in Asia they didn't treat those with a predisposition towards Lightning Flames as meat shields. Why the Italians kept trying to emulate some guy and his friends from around the time Clow Reed was alive she would never understand. It wasn't like they were particularly _good_ at what they did, just very lucky.

And Syaoran was unknowingly trying to reach out to a Sky that wasn't interested...and it was agitating him. Well, if he was going to be prissy then she didn't feel inclined to tell him what was really going on.

Instead she'd sit back and watch the show while giving him a minimum of help. After all, she'd rather be in the middle of enemy territory than within eyesight of those annoying Elders who seemed insistent on marrying her off to someone she was highly unlikely to be able to stand in the least. Syaoran's sisters at least had some say in who they married...as the daughters of the clan head they were allowed to be picky. As a member of the branch family, she did not have such a luxury. She would be lucky to have any refusal in who she married to benefit the clan.

However this presented an opportunity in more ways than one. Had the new owner of the book stolen by the Hibari been a boy, she could have cited an attempt to seduce him into the clan.

(Seducing Hibari Kyouya was still an option, if only to claim she was attempting to steal their heir as payback for stealing the book containing Clow Reed's legacy.)

Meilin knew that any Active Flames were discreetly removed from the active roles of the clan. They were acknowledged as part of the family, but were quietly asked not to bring their relation up since they would almost certainly be snatched up by one of the stronger Triads.

Hotaru was a Sky. Which meant if Meilin played her cards right, she might be able to cite a Guardian bond and get away from her clan without being disowned for it. It was certainly a more favorable outcome then being married off by the Elders.

* * *

Hotaru was frowning as she followed Kero to where he said the Create card was. Something kept niggling at the edge of her senses, telling her to be wary as there was something wrong with this situation. That she was walking into something where she would have to make a serious decision that would have far-reaching implications.

With the use of Shadow (and that had been a nightmare, capturing it without losing the card to the increasingly angry Syaoran) they were able to slip into the apartment where the book was.

Only to find something that had sick to her stomach.

Inside was a man clearly under the influence of drugs that had him out cold to the world around him. He completely ignored their presence and she had the feeling that was a _good_ thing. However the woman, who despite being rather pretty, had a cruel expression on her face as she stalked towards a girl about Hotaru's age who looked positively terrified. From the blood shot eyes it was pretty clear she was drunk...there were bottles on the floor and the table.

The girl shrunk in herself in a familiar manner, and Hotaru didn't even think about what she was doing. There was no way she was going to let someone get hurt in front of her, even if there was a Clow Card that they needed to get to.

"Time, stop everyone except for the girl!" she said clearly. She felt the surge of magic that accompanied the use of a Card without the wand...it was by far more exhausting but much quicker than the precious seconds needed to activate the card normally.

The girl's eyes widened as she looked right at them, and Hotaru could see the Create card in her arms.

"W-w... Who are you?" she asked nervously. The fact the woman was completely frozen a scant inch from nearly hitting her was scaring her. It was like she could come back to life at any moment to deliver the blow.

"Are you alright?" asked Hotaru, easily side stepping the still frozen woman. She gently pulled the smaller girl away from the woman. "Don't worry... she won't move until I let her."

She flinched, holding the book closer to her chest. Hotaru pulled her into a gentle hug, while making it loose enough that the other girl could pull away if she wanted. Instead she seemed to lean into her chest and started sobbing.

"What are we going to do?" asked Kero.

"I can't in good conscience leave her here. Just look at what they're doing," said Hotaru, holding the smaller girl protectively.

Kero didn't like it, at all. But there was little he could do to dissuade Hotaru from discreetly kidnapping the other girl from the condo.

The thing that bothered him was that upon seeing her, the Li brat got increasingly more erratic when it came to Hotaru. It was very strange and the girl he called in as back-up was quietly distancing herself. She seemed to have an idea of what was going on, but was keeping her silence on why Syaoran was acting like this.

So Kero waited until he could confront the girl in private.

"Okay, what's the deal with that brat?" asked Kero.

Meilin looked at him with tired amusement.

"She's a Sky and he's pissed she won't choose him as one of her Elements. For some reason her Flames seem to sputter in and out," said Meilin.

Kero blinked, before he introduced himself to the nearest hard surface.

"That explains far too much. And there's nothing we can do until the Final Judgment," sighed Kero.

"Why not?"

"The Sealing wand was designed to teach the cards who their new Master or Mistress was, not undo seals placed by Flames. However once the Final Judgment arrives, then the magic of the cards will force it to come wide open and heal the damage done," said Kero tiredly. He looked at Meilin oddly. "Why aren't you acting so antagonistic like that brat is?"

"One, I'm a girl and I figured out exactly what is going on so I can hold the urge to be a brat back," said Meilin dryly. "Secondly, you really think I'm going to miss the best chance I have to get out from under the Elder's control? If I play this right then she gets protection from the clan and I actually get some freedom over my life. The lightnings available within the Cosa Nostra are a total joke, and trying to get one from the Triads would only open her up to being snatched up by them."

Kero made a face at that. The girl had a point... acting as Hotaru's Lightning meant that she would be freed from the Clan Elders and keep them off Hotaru's back because one of their own held such an important position with the Card Mistress.

"So...any idea what her new 'sister' is? Type wise I mean?"

"Mist. There's a reason why the Create card was drawn to her and it had nothing to do with her situation," said Kero immediately.

Nagi had been very relieved to be 'trusted' as the keeper of the Create card, even if the book wouldn't "make" anything without prior permission from Hotaru first. At home it was free to indulge in whatever Nagi could come up with...she was quite good at drawing and had a vivid imagination to supply the card with.

Nana, bless her heart, didn't ask why the very timid girl was now living with them. Her eyes became slightly flinty, indicating she had a good idea why Nagi tended to flinch around adults, but she was perfectly willing to pretend the girl was Hotaru's new "sister", particularly since Nagi's parents had yet to come looking for her or post a missing child report.

Even if they had, Hibari had taken _one_ look at the "little kitten" that had firmly attached herself to Hotaru and decided that if her abusers did come looking he would deal with it in short order by biting them to death and making it very clear that retrieving her would be far more trouble than they would anticipate.

Like Hotaru, Nagi took a great deal of comfort in the presence of Hibari Kyouya in the school. No one would _dare_ bully or harass the girl because he had made it clear she was under his direct protection within the first week with Hotaru by gently patting their heads when they were late to school, rather than the usual 'tap' on the head. The fact anyone caught harassing either of them quickly found themselves on the wrong end of Hibari's tonfas in short order.

It took very little time for people to get the message and back off. Hotaru was seriously considering wearing the proper uniform soon, if this kept up. She wasn't going to let her usual method of avoiding unnecessary trouble slip though...she stuck to well traveled paths and made a point of sticking close to Hana or Kyoko whenever possible.

* * *

A small figure sipped his tea contently. Things were progressing nicely, even if the 'other' claimant on the cards had no idea why his behavior was becoming increasingly erratic. The girl had evidently figured it out almost immediately and adjusted her behavior to something far more acceptable.

It was pretty obvious what she was attempting to do, and considering the benefits of her plan he allowed it to continue. If she was successful then it would have benefits for everyone involved, especially Hotaru-chan.

A second figure stalked in with a somewhat foul expression on his face.

"The kitten's 'pride' attempted to reclaim her. I made certain to bite them to death,"he said succinctly.

The fake pack mother tried to hide the signs, but he knew a drug user and a drunk when he saw one. Threatening to have the appropriate testing done with a proper audience had made her back off, as had the fact he had taken out her pathetic mate in a scant handful of seconds. The cops were unlikely to get involved considering the only one to witness the incident was very familiar with him personally. He saw the signs just as quickly and silently agreed the poor girl was better off where she was now.

With the Hibari clan backing Nana's custody of the girl there was no way in hell the fool woman was getting her hands on her again. And if she did, then they would teach her the error of trying to defy them when it came to protecting the small animals of the town.

"And the fact I've seen you protecting the girls at school?" said the smaller figure slyly.

The taller one growled at the what he was insinuating.

"I do _not_ have a crush on the Card Mistress," he snarled.

"And yet you've been dispersing the more foolish idiots who insist on targeting her," countered the first. "It's well known she's now under your personal protection, even if you don't make it obvious."

The taller one glared at him.

"I am waiting for the kitten to finally feel safe enough to wear the proper uniform," he shot back.

"Right, and I'm not cursed twice over," snarked the smaller figure. "It's perfectly normal to have a crush and follow one's hormones."

"DIE."

The smaller figure smirked at him coolly.

"Shall we dance?" he replied serenely.

Tonfas flashed as they attempted to cave in the smaller one's head once more.


	6. Chapter 6

Tomoeda was a beautiful city, and Hotaru was heartily glad that their class trip took them there. Even better, Hibari had apparently deemed this important enough to join them and almost everyone was giving him and Ryohei a wide berth. Poor Kyoko looked utterly embarrassed and was very glad Hana had taken it upon herself to reign in the older Sasegawa. This wasn't Namimori... Ryohei couldn't be as loud and boisterous as usual without getting into major trouble.

According to the teachers, the entire reason Hibari had deigned to leave his 'territory' and act as one of the guards on this trip was because of Nagi. Her mother still hadn't given up on her and he would be very unhappy if the woman managed to kidnap her once she was out of his usual hunting grounds.

The fact that as a side effect he spent quite a lot of time around Hotaru was a very relieving bonus. She might actually get to enjoy the trip for once.

"I hope I'm not late," said a quiet, serene voice.

Hibari glowered at the smaller figure.

"Annoying carnivore, what are you doing here?" he demanded irate.

Hotaru blinked. This was the first time she had heard _anyone_ being deemed a "carnivore" by Hibari-sempai so openly!

"Your mother has apparently decided to sign me up as one of the adult chaperons," he replied dryly. "Besides, this means you have to actually spend time with me and not try to attack like you usually do."

Hibari looked decidedly unhappy about the prospect.

"Um... who are you?" asked Hotaru quietly. Hana took one look at the "toddler" and gave off a full body shudder before putting Ryohei between her and the 'kid'.

Hana _hated_ children.

"Apologies. I'm Kyouya's uncle and my name is Fon. Don't let my short stature fool you, I am much older than I look," he said pleasantly.

Hotaru's eyes were bright with curiosity and interest.

"Do you need help getting around? I know short legs can be a pain," she asked politely.

Fon's eyes glinted with amusement. He easily took a spot on her shoulder and settled down much like Kero did sometimes.

"Thanks. While I am quite fast, it's rather irritating having to find a place to use as a vaulting point to get up higher to see things."

Hearing a squeak, Hotaru looked with wide, amazed eyes as an adorable monkey scurried out of Fon's odd outfit and onto his head.

"This is Lichi. He is quite tame."

"Can I pet him?" asked Hotaru hopefully.

Lichi scurried across her back and onto her other shoulder, allowing her to pat his head. Hotaru giggled with delight.

Hibari grumpily explained the addition of the odd 'toddler' and his pet monkey to the teachers...the resemblance between the two was strong enough that there was little chance of anyone mistaking Fon for anything _but_ a close relative and his behavior was nothing like an average toddler.

Besides, this was Namimori where people had a habit of ignoring the odd and often unexplained on principle. If Hibari said that the odd toddler with a tame pet monkey was his uncle, then the teachers were inclined to believe it.

Hibari quickly picked up that Fon intended to stick close to the girls, or more specifically Hotaru anyway, and promptly decided to keep an eye on the more annoying herbivores that tried to get up to mischief. He still kept close to Nagi, just to be safe, but for the most part he acted as one of the forces keeping the herbivores from embarrassing the school...and Ryohei quiet. Every time he went to start his usual yelling, if Hana wasn't around to firmly yank on his ear then Hibari would be there to deliver a warning 'tap' to shut him up.

However it was what they encountered during the trip that made Hotaru's life as a Card Captor infinitely less difficult.

There was a girl in Tomoeda named Sakura Kinomoto and within a few hours of being around her Syaoran's erratic behavior started to tone down the longer he spent around her.

Fon was highly amused by this, for multiple reasons. He also made a note that there was apparently a second untapped Sky in Japan and a natural sorceress to boot.

He suspected _she_ was supposed to be the original intended recipient of the Book, which would explain her naturally high magic levels.

He didn't regret stealing it however... the cards were perfectly happy with the situation now and were living far more freely than the other girl would have likely allowed. She didn't seem like the type to allow them to indulge in their more violent natures like Fight and Sword.

She, at least, had a stable home life.

* * *

Meilin breathed a sigh of relief when she realized her cousin was showing all the signs of having found his Sky and therefor backed off on harassing the Card Mistress.

So it was entirely unsurprising when he demanded to know exactly why she was still acting as the buffer between him and Hotaru.

"You are a complete fool and blind to boot," she said flatly.

The shocked expression on his face was entirely worth it, especially since he was definitely listening intently to her words.

"Hotaru is a sealed Sky, you _idiot_. She couldn't harmonize with anyone even if she wanted to, and your power was entirely incompatible with hers in the first place."

Syaoran's mouth dropped as he ran his previous behavior back and realized what had happened to him.

"I was _Sky Struck_?" he said in disbelief.

Sky Struck was a condition certain Elements suffered when they were around a Sky who had multiple openings in their Harmony and were close enough in strength and purity to draw in a potential Guardian. The Elements around them would become utterly besotted with the Sky in question and it had only one of three endings.

A Guardian bond being formed, the Element in question going into complete Discord and attempting to take out the Sky with them, or the two being forcibly separated and the Element put into Quarantine until their Flames stabilized and they were firmly told never to go near the Sky in question again.

At least not unless they had a proper Sky of their own to counter the effects.

"It looks like that Kinomoto girl is a Sky too, though I doubt she's even aware of her Flames. I bet the clan wouldn't bat an eye if you decided to properly court her as a girlfriend, since she was definitely giving off enough magic to be a potential sorceress," said Meilin.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I realized what Hotaru was almost immediately, so I was able to buffer the effect her Sky has without going bonkers like you did," said Meilin coolly. "That being said, I'm keeping my options open...with any luck I'll get a partial bond with Hotaru or that Sakura girl once you start making headway with her. It seems she's already got a Cloud, Rain and a Mist hanging around her."

Sakura Kinomoto had apparently attracted her older brother, his best friend (and possibly boyfriend) and her friend Tomoyo as her Guardians, though they likely had no idea of the bond. Which meant Syaoran had an actual chance to become her Storm and lover if he played his cards right.

Meilin smirked.

"Besides, if what the Sun Guardian said was true, then odds are Hotaru's seal is going to be completely trashed after the Final Judgment anyway, which means I have a decent shot at being her Lightning."

"What?" said Syaoran.

"She was deliberately sealed, likely by someone who only had the barest idea of what that would do to a child. She must have been Active when it was applied for the damage to be this extensive. And the staff can't remove it...but the power upgrade that comes with being the _recognized_ Mistress of the Cards can. Besides anyone with eyes can tell the cards like her far more than they do you," said Meilin flatly.

"She's reckless with them," said Syaoran scowling.

"She's _lonely_. The only friends she can tentatively claim are all very recent and people are still in shock at the sudden change in her social status. She was a veritable pariah for no other reason than the fact she was Active when she was sealed and it did nothing about Sky Attraction!" snapped Meilin. "She treats the cards more like her family than tools like we would."

Syaoran was silent at that. He was still recovering from the revelation he had been suffering from Sky Attraction and hadn't realized it until Meilin pointed it out.

* * *

Hibari was in a decidedly good mood for a full month. Fon had been 'recalled' by the Triads for a time, which meant he didn't have to deal with the man's attempts for family bonding.

That lasted right up until he _returned_ a week later with a young girl about four or five who looked at Kyouya shyly and almost blew up his room.

Fon was rather quick to seal her gift... until she was a bit more emotionally stable it wasn't safe for her to have access to it.

I-Pin was positively adorable. Sadly Fon had to wait until the seal was finally removed before he could move onto the second part of his plan to keep his new apprentice/surrogate daughter firmly out of the Triads claws. As his student and with her gift, she was particularly vulnerable to being kidnapped, if only to use against Fon as collateral and as a tool to dispose of others.

He had a firm grasp of Hotaru's personality, and the way she had immediately removed and protected the abused Mist that had practically become her sister said volumes. He had no doubt the girl would practically adopt I-Pin as a younger sibling to dote on while I-Pin acted as Nana's bodyguard.

It would keep his apprentice safe from being snatched up as an assassin and still give her a chance to grow up with a loving family. It also meant Nana would have yet another child to dote on... unfortunately she was unable to have more children of her own due to complications of Hotaru's birth.

Fon looked at I-Pin fondly.

" _This is your new cousin, Kyouya. If something happens and I'm unavailable I want you to find him first. There is another I will introduce you to later, but he will keep you safe,"_ said Fon gently in Mandarin.

I-Pin looked at Kyouya hard, before acknowledging Fon's words. She wouldn't mistake Kyouya for anyone else... where her teacher and father figure felt like a wild, barely tamed storm, her cousin felt distinctly like a lone wolf that protected his territory while hiding in the mists. He might be part of a pack, but he was a solitary creature that defended what he considered _his_.

She blushed lightly when Kyouya gently patted her head.

" _Behave and learn to use your claws well, little tiger,"_ said Kyouya.

I-Pin beamed at him... she could tell the name was high praise coming from the wolf before her. It meant he could sense she would become great one day, like Master!

Then her eyes landed on the odd bird on his shoulder.

" _Master, what is that?"_ she asked fascinated.

'That' as it turned out, was a rather amazing feat of sorcery and western magic. One that had apparently adopted Kyouya as it's "nest" if the way it acted around him was any indication. It wasn't his, but it did belong to the other that her Master wanted to introduce her to later.

It was called "Fly", but it went by Hibird around the civilians and mundanes. Everyone considered it Kyouya's pet and never realized exactly what it was that was sitting tamely on his shoulder.

I-Pin giggled with delight when Fly took her into the sky for a little bit... it drew on it's Mistress' reserves so it couldn't do it for long without her help, but the feeling of being up high in the clouds was _amazing_. It seemed to have adopted her as a chick of sorts, which meant she sometimes found herself napping with it's wings wrapped around her protectively.

Her life was looking up and it felt like it could only get better.

* * *

Hotaru was slightly nervous, but at the same time excited. Tsuyoshi had deemed his son "competent" in the use of the sword, and as a special test (and so Sword could play too and see how well it had 'absorbed' the lessons from Shigure Kintoki) he had asked Hotaru to take her weapon and face against Takeshi in a mock-fight.

It would continue until first blood on either side, or until one was too tired to continue. Which considering Hotaru's current level of stamina wouldn't take too long.

Hotaru had absolutely no talent for the sword... Tsuyoshi had figured that much out in a single training session. She was too skittish about using actual weapons to hurt others.

Her best bet for defense was likely going to be hand to hand. Which was why she had taken to letting Fight use her to spar with Hibari-sempai on the roofs after the older swordsman had told her flat out she'd be better off not using weapons in the first place.

"Begin!"

Takeshi had clearly taken to the sword as if it naturally fit into his hand. Which it probably did, and baseball had only honed the muscles needed to wield one effectively.

Hotaru's eyes glowed a protective amber as Sword took full control of her body and put her through similar stances to the ones Takeshi was using himself. The minor mistakes were slowly, but surely being corrected without a word being shared by the humans in the room.

Takeshi's odd grin widened the longer it went, until Hotaru's stamina began to lag. A light line of red came against her left arm when she went to defend against an attack.

"Enough," said Tsuyoshi. "Takeshi, you still need to refine your fifth form. Hotaru, your stamina still needs improvement but your form was acceptable for someone unused to using a weapon."

She beamed at him with pride.

"As for Sword... well done. You seem to have taken to Shigure Kintoki's lessons better than some do, especially since you were unfamiliar with it's particular style before."

Sword chittered with happiness, both because Tsuyoshi was addressing it like it had a mind as it's siblings did and for the praise on the way it had taken to his family style.

"Ahahaha... it's really strange, being able to feel it's happiness through my hands," said Takeshi.

"He," corrected Hotaru absently. "Shigure Kintoki is a 'he', since most of it's masters were men and it rarely felt females were worthy of him. Sword, on the other hand is a female since it's creator apparently favored female avatars for it's siblings."

Takeshi nodded cheerful.

"It's strange feeling how happy _he_ is when my mind keeps telling me I'm holding a sword," he agreed readily. He could literally _feel_ Shigure Kintoki warm in his hands with pleased pride at being acknowledged as a 'male' sword, rather than just a tool.

"Why?" asked Hotaru, tilting her head in a cute way. "There are plenty of stories in Asia of common items gaining sentience. Is it really that hard to believe that a sword as well loved and maintained like Shigure Kintoki would gain a mind of it's own, even if he can't express it like others? That he would favor certain masters over others?"

Takeshi thought that one over before he grinned. Tsuyoshi laughed at the question outright.

"She has you there," he said amused.

Really, the idea that the family sword would have developed a personality of it's own after centuries of being in the family and used as a proper weapon instead of a wall decoration wasn't that far fetched at all. It would have been _more_ shocking if a sword that had a proper name _hadn't_ developed something of a personality.

Having Sword around just made it quite a bit more obvious that it would have been otherwise. Not that he was complaining.


	7. Chapter 7

It was almost the time for the Final Judgment, and not even _he_ knew how that would play out. He was not the original intended vessel for the Moon Guardian, though when Yue woke up long enough to realize what happened (and calmed down from the outrage he felt at the book being stolen and diverted from his father's intended recipient) the two got along surprisingly well.

Mostly because he was a master at maintaining his calm and Yue was a surprisingly good tea buddy who didn't mind long stretches of silence during their rather philosophical debates over the most random of subjects that ranged from humanity to magic and everything in between. Even if they couldn't really drink tea, they were still able to visualize it in their shared mental space.

The issue was the curse he was currently under. He had no idea how Yue would be able to circumvent that long enough to do what he wanted and not feel _some_ sort of nasty feedback. Or worse, if it would draw the man who put it on him out of whatever hole he crawled to when he wasn't being a pest.

It would be nice, being able to finally let the truth out in the open. No one was entirely aware of the consequences of him stealing that book several decades ago, and he had kept it a tightly held secret even from the likes of his comrades before the curse. He considered that a personal achievement when one was dealing with the likes of Reborn (who acted as though he had legitimate mind reading powers, but was more likely a natural 'cold reading' master) and Viper, one of the strongest and most cunning Mists he had ever encountered and might have accidentally picked _something_ up during their close interaction.

Fortunately Yue had been largely dormant during that time period before the curse, and the few times he _had_ been awake his mindset had been similar enough to his own that it had likely gone unnoticed in the first place.

" _I do not like this."_

 _'We both agreed it is necessary. That seal must go and the only feasible way to do so without tracking down who placed it in the first place is to force it wide open with something it's not remotely prepared to deal with.'_

Magic and Flames might work well together, but when it came to a seal like the one on Hotaru, the stronger force would prevail. There was no way a modern mortal, much less someone who likely only had Flame training, would be able to suppress that much raw magical power as her full abilities were unleashed. Even if it was only for a second, the amount of magical ability Hotaru would have access to in that moment would be more than enough to blast that seal into shreds.

Without the one who put it on her nearby to reapply it, her full power would finally be freed to blaze like it should have been. If he ever got his hands on whoever had nearly ruined Hotaru's childhood with their foolishness he was going to wring their neck and not give a damn _who_ they were or what famiglia they were with.

That being said he had a fairly good idea _who_ had put the seal on her or at least a general guess on who had ordered it placed on her as a child.

Lal didn't exactly speak _highly_ of her superior's intelligence or common sense. And the fact he hadn't seen either hide or hair of that imbecile during the short amount of time the cards had been active spoke of how little he thought of his own wife and child. In fact he could not once recall a single instance where Hotaru even mentioned her genetic donor, even in passing.

Like she had come to accept the fact that he wanted nothing to do with her or her mother, and only stayed married to Nana to maintain his image. That or she honestly thought he had died at some point and had moved on with her life.

Considering the lack of contact, he highly suspected the latter.

He sighed.

" _I am still unhappy with your plan to insure that no one uses the Card Mistress."_

 _'Need I remind you that it is the lesser of many evils? At least this way I can nudge her to Kyouya, who appears to have finally discover his hormones and is starting to slowly edge towards 'interest' when it comes to the kitten,'_ he reminded the Moon Guardian.

He had noted with amusement and approval that the matches between Kyouya and the kitten had slowly started to edge the girl away from using Fight as a crutch and more as a guideline. He was almost positive he felt Fight go into her dormant form and let the girl fight on her own.

He had no doubt that the day she managed to hold her own against Kyouya would be the day the boy finally realized his interest in the little kitten had nothing to do with Sky Attraction and had more to do with "romantic interest" towards a girl his own age. Considering he had been drifting her way for months now, odds were the second her Flames were freed they'd experience full blown harmonization.

And it wasn't just him. He could tell that she had managed to draw in the natural hit man and the sunny boxer who had apparently decided to adopt her as a second younger sister thanks to her association with Fight.

" _I still do not like the deception."_

 _'Neither do I, but would you rather she learn what actual romance and love is from someone like me who will not harm her future prospects, or from some foolish idiot who's only interest is to get into her pants and satisfy his own hormonal impulses until she no longer amuses him?'_ he countered with a snarky reminder.

And that right there was the _only_ reason Yue had agreed to go along with it, even if he wanted nothing to do with it personally. At her age, Hotaru's hormones would be a major driving force, enough that it might get her into trouble that would be nearly impossible to fix with the cards. Teenagers were _not_ the most responsible things on the planet, and if she had been a boy then this wouldn't have been such a major problem to deal with.

The last thing Yue wanted to deal with was the Card Mistress having a broken heart and being in the family way with next to no support. It made her vulnerable to being used and by extension the cards.

If she had a stable home life and attentive parents, then it wouldn't be so bad, but her mother was more or less oblivious to the obvious and the father was either dead or could care less about her.

Which meant she was especially vulnerable to being taken advantage of by older, more experience males who were only in it to satisfying their baser instincts.

And that was absolutely no acceptable, to either of them. Even if it meant they had to deal with it personally, allowing someone with as much raw power and potential being used as a tool for the darker forces of the world was not an option.

Hopefully Keroberos wouldn't be a complete _pain_ when he cottoned on to what they were doing and would actually listen when they explained why they were doing it in the first place.

* * *

Kero was observing the Card Captor. Specifically her magical aura and the way it interacted with the cards she had. At this rate Earthy was likely going to be the last one to be caught, which would reveal the vessel Yue had taken.

Hotaru was quickly beginning to master the lesser known ability of the cards, one that would have taken anyone else years and years of use to learn.

She was learning how to cast the spells _without_ the use of her Sealing wand or the card itself. The only other person he knew who could pull that off was Clow himself and it had taken over a century of constant practice to get to that point.

Sure, mages could learn how to cast spells at the drop of a hat without any warning...but those were usually personal spells that they had used so often that their magic knew how to do it without instruction from their minds.

Hotaru was doing it entirely by instinct without even knowing what she was doing. She almost didn't _need_ the cards anymore, save for the ones she hadn't bonded with personally like Thunder or Erase.

He knew why it was happening too. Hotaru allowed the cards to wander around freely within reason, which meant they were _constantly_ drawing on her magical and Flame reserves. Her powers were adapting to the strain by learning the feel of the card's natural powers and as a result she mostly brought the cards out as an afterthought.

There was no way the Li brat would win in the Final Judgment. He treated the cards as tools and barely had any grasp on the more instinctive applications of using them.

He highly suspected Yue would instead force Hotaru to blast through whatever it was that was holding her powers back before declaring her the new Mistress of the Cards.

He hated this. Having to "hurry up and wait" was a complete nightmare and he never had the patience for it. At least the Li brat had clearly attached himself to the Kinomoto girl two towns over as her Storm... he could see the red string connecting them despite not having much interaction with either and figured it was one of those things where once contact had been made the stones would naturally fall into place to bring them together one way or another.

Meilin also seemed to be drifting that way, though she stayed close to Hotaru for multiple reasons. Chief of which was that until young Sakura managed to bond with her as her Sky, the clan still could marry her off to improve their chances.

In short a lot of things were beginning to fall into place like a prelude to something much bigger. Though he still wondered what exactly caused that odd ripple that felt far too much like Clow in April... it had been particularly strong and had come in the general direction of China.

There had also been a strange ripple among the cards, as if someone else was using them, except their connection was rather tenuous at best.

Kero suspected that once Hotaru managed to connect with the other cards that were in the Li kid's possession, that she would be willing to hand over the book and the cards to the girl who had shown a natural aptitude towards that amount of high level magic. She'd have to play catch up, and it was almost certain that the spirits inside the cards would _stay_ with Hotaru, but after the Final Judgment they were supposed to be 'changed' to the new Master or Mistress anyway so it wasn't any real loss.

Sakura would not only change the cards, but draw in new spirits that could be attuned to her personally rather than rely on the ones that Clow had bonded to them. That meant she would have a higher chance to learn the same tricks Hotaru was doing already, even though there were still a handful of cards left out and about.

Besides, Kero had noticed that Hotaru was able to cast magic easier without the Sealing Wand than with it, and only used it because she had no idea how to get the cards to go back to their dormant form without it.

* * *

They were on the roof again, and Hibari was in a very good mood. The little skittish kitten who had set the troublesome cards loose had come a long way from the girl who was too terrified to stand up for herself.

So it was with great surprise that she managed to land a decent punch to his side...only for him to realize she was _still_ fighting despite the fact Fight was watching the entire thing from the side with a grin.

He blinked, registering the fact that she wasn't using Hotaru as a conduit for her powers, before he slowly asked "You're not using Fight are you?"

"I wanted to be able to fight you on even grounds without using her as a crutch," admitted Hotaru shyly.

A strange warmth crawled up his neck. It took him a few moments to register he was blushing. Why was he blushing?!

Seeing the way Hotaru was looking at him and the smug way Fight was watching the two, revelation hits him like a brick.

Oh. OH.

He was romantically _interested_ in the kitten who had gone from a skittish house cat to a tiger with claws. That damn carnivore was never going to let him hear the end of this, he just knew it. He would also take far too much enjoyment in goading him about the crush he had begun to develop and the fact he was finally noticing his hormones.

Hibari was not a late bloomer... like the annoying carnivore he had a strong control over his baser urges and felt no need to find a suitable female (or male) to satisfy his hormones.

If he were to find a suitable partner in that manner, then he refused to acknowledge the weak and those who would need protecting. He wanted someone who was his _equal_ , not someone who would look at him as their personal "knight in shining armor" there to get them out of trouble whenever confronted with violence.

The idea of finding the half-grown tigress attractive as a female had never occurred to him. It made him rather eager to see exactly how strong she could get when she finally tossed aside the imposed shackles the lesser herbivores had forced on her as a child and the conditioning of the scavengers around her.

A feral grin came across his face, as he stepped up his 'playtime' with the tigress before him. Hotaru seemed to sense the change, but did not rely on Fight to keep her head on her shoulders.

A strange smile curled across her own face, as well as an amber glow in her eyes that he found very attractive indeed. It made something in him (not his hormones) stand up and take attention that she might actually be worthy of his attention.

Hotaru might have lost their fight, but she had managed to hold her own without using Fight once for a solid half an hour and that was impressive enough on it's own right. So much so that he was beginning to seriously consider her as a potential worthy female.

* * *

Fon took one look at his face before a wide, disturbing grin came across his features.

"My dear Kyouya is finally growing up. I hope you remember protection," he said smiling wickedly.

Kyouya was on him in seconds.

"Die, carnivore!" he snarled.

Fon cackled and started making even more insinuations about Kyouya's love life than he ever wanted to hear. Kyouya didn't know if it was from embarrassment or pure unbridled irritation and rage, but his aura was a palpable thing. So much so that he didn't even realize when he started to manifest a violet and indigo colored fire on his weapons or in his eyes.

He only took notice when Fon managed to confiscate his precious tonfas.

"I was wondering when you'd make the final push into an Active state. Which means I can finally give you these," he said pleased.

Inside the box were a pair of tonfas not too dissimilar to the ones he had now. Except these had a button that when pressed, released a long, thin chain that ended with a small weight. A quick test proved that the weight in question wrapped tightly enough to make escape very difficult for someone who was caught in it. There was also another added feature that had Kyouya grinning in a rather terrifying way. When twisted just so, one side of the weapons opened up to reveal a needle launcher that could be coated with a paralytic or any number of poisons and venom. It only shoot one needle at a time, but when combined with his Cloud Flames he didn't need to have it spray wildly. He could multiply the number shot out the second it left his weapon.

Fon was smirking in his own darkly pleased way. This was a weapon he had _personally_ had ordered for when Kyouya went Active...it would only take minimal training to make his nephew even more dangerous to fight against. Something that made the darker side of the Storm Arcobaleno pleased because the stronger Kyouya was, the harder it would be to kill the boy.

"Wao."

Kyouya held up his new toys with a dark glint in his steel gray eyes. He was definitely pleased with the gift.

Didn't stop him from testing it out by trying to bite Fon to death for annoying him though.


	8. Chapter 8

Hotaru didn't want to wake up at all. She actually felt _warm_ for once and it felt nice and safe where she was.

"Little princess, it's time to wake up. You've been sleeping quite a bit already," said a gentle voice from somewhere nearby. Oddly, it sounded like it was right above her.

Hotaru nuzzled into her pillow. It took her a few moments to register the chuckle...and the fact that the pillow was oddly bumpy.

She felt a gentle hand card it's way through her hair. It felt really nice.

"Come on, little princess. Your Guardians are anxious to know you're alright. Kero was quite upset that you haven't woken up yet," said the voice.

Hotaru slowly opened her eyes.

"That's it, little princess," said the voice encouragingly.

The _second_ she registered the fact she was sleeping on someone's lap, she nearly shot up in shock.

She felt really dizzy when she did, as the memories of the Final Judgment hit her like a brick.

Capturing Earthy. The appearance of Fon, who turned out to have the soul of Yue inside him as punishment for stealing the book. Seeing Li try to claim the cards, only to be smacked down rather promptly by a less than amused Moon Guardian.

Being challenged by Yue, only for him to change the 'game' as he knew she would never force the cards to fight him.

She remembered being pushed to the brink, before reaching out to the staff and somehow _unsealing_ her full magical potential as fire rushed through her veins and body. The staff of Sealing and the cards disappearing...but the spirits that had been contained within staying with her.

"The spirits...where are they?" she asked worriedly. She turned...and had to stare at the double of Kyouya, except he had much longer hair and a far gentler aura around him.

Where Kyouya felt like a lone wolf, this teen felt more like a barely contained hurricane...one that was created by a great dragon of immense power.

"...Fon-san?" she asked cautiously.

Fon, for that was indeed who it was, smiled at her.

"You've given the others quite a bit of worry, little princess. You've been asleep for three full days since Yue deemed you worthy of the cards."

"Where are they?"

"It seems you no longer need them, so they were sent to the one they were originally intended for. Of course young Kinomoto-san will have to draw in new spirits as the original ones have quite firmly made it clear they adore you to the point they would abandon the form Clow gave them. However the cards were always intended as a training tool...she would have had to change their form after the Final Judgment anyway," explained Fon. "Kero and the others made sure to explain things once they found out where the book and staff went, so she has someone to talk to about it... as for Li, he has now been assigned to Tomoeda to insure the cards either end up in the clan or to add the young lady in question to the clan the old fashioned way."

"What about Meilin?"

"I'm afraid she went Active as a result of your own unsealing. As Kinomoto-san is a civilian, her best chance is to bond with you as your Lightning," said Fon.

He had the distinct feeling Meilin would have found a way to go Active and try to bond with Hotaru regardless, purely to get out of the control of the Li clan elders.

Considering she had actual training as a martial artist and wasn't "brainwashed" with the typical mindset of a Lightning, she would make a good match for Hotaru. If she did bond with the little Sky, then Fon would teach the girl a style that suited her body type and personality.

"How did you get so big?"

Fon smiled at her.

"Little princess, the form you knew before was the result of a particularly nasty curse I was tricked into decades ago. I am considerably older than you think," said Fon.

"Then why do you look..."

Like he was closer to Kyouya's age?

Fon chuckled.

"As a compromise I made with Yue before the Final Judgment, upon learning the lack of any protection at all for you or your mother, he agreed to help lift part of the curse so that I might act as Kyouya's 'twin brother' and join you in your class. Consider me an extra bodyguard on top of young Takeshi," said Fon.

"Why? Why would you go through so much trouble for..." asked Hotaru.

Why would he go to such hassle for a loser like her? It made no sense!

Fon's eyes softened.

"Little princess, when you unlocked your full potential during the Final Judgment, you did more than free yourself of the chains that were forcibly placed on you. You also managed to harmonize with those closest to you...and since Yue is your Moon Guardian, that also extended to me. I'm your new Storm," he said gently.

Though he had to wonder if having Kero was the reason why Ryohei only had a "lesser" Guardian bond with Hotaru or if he wasn't fully compatible with her in the first place. After all, she managed to handle _him_ , on top of the newly formed bond she had with Yue. If she was strong enough to handle the strongest Storm in the world, then it was also possible she could handle that chaotic headache.

"HOTARU!"

Kero practically tackled her the second he realized she was awake.

"Kero-chan!"

"You had me so worried! You wouldn't wake up at all for days!" said Kero worriedly.

That was the moment Hotaru's stomach rumbled, loudly.

She blushed in embarrassment. Fon chuckled.

"I think you could use something to eat, little princess. Considering you've been sleeping while your magic and your flames resettled after being freed, it's only natural you'd be rather hungry," said Fon.

She went to get up...until she registered something.

"What am I wearing?!"

"Alright you two, all boys out," said Meilin imperiously. Chrome, formerly Nagi, was right behind her. "That means you too Kero."

Kero stuck his tongue out at her, but settled on Fon's shoulder as they left the room.

Meilin checked her temperature.

"Well, you're definitely looking a lot better now. You were a little pale before," said Meilin.

Chrome was already getting out some outfits, all of which Hotaru had never seen before in her life.

"How did I get into this?"

"Your uniform was in pretty bad shape," said Meilin bluntly. "Yue managed to catch you, and Hibari made sure to bring you to the clan mansion. Chrome and I were the ones to dress you. As your handmaidens it's only proper, after all."

"Handmaidens?" said Hotaru in disbelief.

Meilin grimaced.

"I managed to convince my clan that I would act as one of your handmaidens since I became Active. As such, you can consider Chrome and I to be your female confidants. We're not servants, but our status is considered secondary to your own and we will put you before ourselves," clarified Meilin. "It's quite a bit different from the whole 'Guardian/Sky' thing that most Flame actives have going on."

Hotaru was horribly confused. Chrome clarified it using the same method Fon had when he explained it to Meilin so that she could avoid going back to China.

"The underworld considers Skies to be the equivalent of royalty, and the fact you were chosen as one of the successors of the Clow Cards only reinforces that image. As such, you could be considered a 'princess' of sorts. And every princess needs a handmaiden to help from the shadows, such as keeping you from making social faux pas in an enviroment you're not used to, or helping with outfits you've never worn before...such as kimono," said Chrome.

"Essentially while the boys are the front line bodyguards, we're the hidden protectors. Mostly because they can't enter gender-specific areas like bathrooms or the bedroom unless they're married to you," said Meilin.

"But I'm nobody!" said Hotaru.

Meilin lightly pinched her cheek.

"You are one of a very select few born with strong enough Sky Flames capable of harmonizing with an Arcobaleno. You are also one of the few who have the capacity to instinctively adapt to the Clow Cards to the point you no longer _need_ them to cast spells. I hate to break it to you, but you're no longer just a _normal_ girl. We're just going to have to remind you that you do deserve protection and respect from others," said Meilin firmly, but with a gentle tone.

A few months had told her that Hotaru's confidence was shot to hell, and that she needed every little boost to her self-esteem that she could get until she was able to overcome the years of bullying and harassment from all sides.

Her support system was still too new to be as effective as she needed it to be.

Hotaru started to tear up... so the girls hugged her tightly between them. She latched onto them like a lifeline.

They stayed like that until Hotaru's stomach grumbled again.

"There, there. First we need to get you dressed and then fatten you up a bit. You're far too skinny."

Hotaru fumbled a bit with the relatively tame kimono Chrome had managed to find, but once she was properly dressed she felt a little better. She didn't feel very comfortable in such an expensive outfit, but at least she wasn't only dressed in a long shirt!

(She would blush horribly when she found out it was one of Kyouya's older shirts. If that wasn't a sign of him staking his claim on her, nothing was!)

* * *

Fon looked at the pacifier in his hand. He would have to pull this off very carefully if he wished to make a clean break. He had woken up that morning and _known_ something was wrong almost immediately.

He just hadn't expected it to be this.

He attempted to reach out to his flames, only to feel an almost empty void where they used to be.

 _ **'You wanted the freedom to act as her protector. Are you dissatisfied with my solution to your problem?'**_ Yue asked him.

 _'How?!'_

Yue snorted.

 _ **'I took the majority of your flames and amplified it until the artifact overloaded and fell off. The downside is that you will be unable to use them for a few months at least, but once Hotaru's own magic stabilizes enough to handle supporting me, it should recover. Would you rather have that parasitic**_ **thing** _ **stay until it drained you to death?'**_ said Yue.

Fon looked at his hands. They were bigger than he was used to, but they weren't the same size as they had been when he was cursed originally.

He looked in the mirror...and saw himself, except he was at _least_ a decade too could have passed for Kyouya's slightly younger brother, or even a twin.

 _'...You deliberately set my age to that of a teenager, didn't you?'_ asked Fon dryly.

 _ **'May I remind you that**_ **you** ** _were the one to suggest courting the Card Mistress as a female so that she would not fall for the tricks of those that would only use her for their own gain? Besides...it was easier to get that blasted artifact off if you didn't regain your original age.'_**

Fon stretched his hands. While it was slightly awkward having to go through puberty _twice_ , it was a small price to pay in order to have that blasted pacifier off.

The only thing was, he had no idea if the feat could be replicated. Never mind the fact that once the others found out what happened, they wouldn't hesitate to delve into things better left alone in order to remove their own curse.

He would have to fake his own death if he wanted to avoid that issue. It would be very tricky, but the ability to move freely again _and_ be able to protect Hotaru without having the threat of the Triads hanging over his head was well worth it.

Maintaining the position of a neutral enforcer in the Triads was a _lot_ of work. And if they knew he had bonded to a Sky...it wouldn't be pretty and Hotaru would be in terrible danger.

Far better to make it look like someone got a lucky hit in and disappear completely. After all, it wasn't like he actually talked about his family that much with others to begin with.

No one needed to know that Kyouya's "cousin" was actually Fon.

* * *

 _Two months later..._

"Everyone, I would like to introduce a transfer student. He's recently come from China and he's been home-schooled until now, so be nice," said the teacher. "Come in please."

The students all wondered why the teacher seemed so nervous about a transfer, and why a second student from China had come all the way to Namimori.

The second the new student entered the room, the entire classroom fell into dead silence.

He was a dead ringer for the demon prefect, save for the fact his hair was slightly longer!

Hotaru, Takeshi, Meilin and Chrome all recognized him for an entirely different reason.

"Ni hao. My name is Hibari Arashi, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said politely.

"Teacher, did we do something to piss off the violent monkey in charge of discipline or something?" asked Hana. "Because last I checked, we've done nothing to deserve the monkey's clone in our class."

Fon smiled at that, while internally laughing.

"I'm afraid Kyouya and I don't get along that well. He dislikes the fact that he is unable to bite me to death since I win every time we spar. So as a compromise I was placed in the year below his to avoid any unnecessary...confrontations," said Fon.

The silence was even worse.

Did the new student just call the demon prefect by name...and claim that Hibari had never _won_ against him?!

The teacher coughed awkwardly.

"You may take the seat next to Sawada-san," she said.

Fon inclined his head, and easily took his seat.

Later on the roof, Hotaru and the others practically ganged up on him.

"Alright spill. How the hell did you get rid of the pacifier and why have you been out of contact for the last two months?!" said Meilin.

"And why did the rumor mill from the fake carnivores recently proclaim you dead?" demanded Hibari annoyed.

Fon coughed.

"From now on, address me as Arashi. As for the rumors... if the others knew I had managed to slip away from the curse they would cause no end of trouble to replicate it. Some things are better left remaining buried and forgotten. As such I had to take great pains to make it appear as though I had been killed by a lucky shot. It was rather difficult to make it appear as though I had died by self-immolation so that no one would be able to identify the corpse I used properly," said Fon. He grimaced. "The hardest part was finding someone skilled enough that the entire scene looked plausible, but not so skilled that they would survive the attempt and blow the whole thing wide open. Someone with motive to attack me specifically."

"So...you're staying here?" asked Hotaru. She couldn't imagine how desperate Fon...no, _Arashi_... had been to pull this off.

"As far as anyone needs to know, Hibari Arashi was trained by 'Fon' on the sly in martial arts and decided to return to his cousin upon his father's death. However as the two had never gotten along, it was decided he would attend the year below Kyouya's to prevent any unnecessary fighting between them," said Fon easily. "By this point the birth records have all been suitably altered and the potential heirs are always delivered by a midwife that's kept on retainer by the Hibari clan in order to prevent incidents such as kidnapping or attempted murder of the mother or child. And as Arashi appears so much like Kyouya...well, who's to say which child was present or not?"

Kyouya glared at him.

"Just so we're clear, you're not going to be intruding in my territory are you?"

Fon rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to try and claim your territory, Kyouya. Only an idiot would do that and I have no interest in it. I chose her class to keep an eye on her since Keroberos can't and to provide extra protection."

That seemed to satisfy the Cloud.

"Besides...this gives me a chance to train Fight so that she is even more effective as a martial artist," said Fon.

He would enjoy this, so long as no one ever realized that he had faked his own death.


	9. Chapter 9

Arashi was looking into _how_ exactly Yue was able to rid him of the curse that had plagued them both for over thirty years. It had taken him a month, but he had finally stopped thinking of himself as "Fon". If anyone asked, he would claim to be Fon's "son" and that he was simply living with his cousin since his father was killed. Since he looked so much like Kyouya, it was easy to claim he they were brothers in public.

Arashi had to smirk slightly at the amusing reactions little Hotaru kept having when she slept over, only to find him acting much more affectionate than Kyouya would around her. He found it very telling that she kept coming over and didn't protest his light courtship of her.

It had taken him close to four months, but he finally pinned down why the removal of the pacifier and the majority of his flames hadn't outright killed him like it should have.

He carefully poked at his flames while meditating. And what he found had him shocked.

For all of his life, he had been a straight Storm. It was still there, weakened considerably after the hit he took when Yue removed the curse...but now there was the distinct feeling of Cloud tied within. Enough that he could claim it as a secondary once his Storm recovered...or a primary if it never did.

It took him a few moments to guess what Yue's "territory" was, before he relaxed. Obviously Yue's territory was the cards and to an extent, the Card's mistress.

Arashi's territory, if one could call it that, was the protection and safety of his Sky.

As the two were in fact one and the same, it meant that some of Yue's natural Flames had been shared with Arashi as a side effect in order to insure his survival. After all, Yue couldn't sustain himself at all and borrowing some of his extra life force meant lowering the amount of power he needed from Hotaru's own reserves.

Since Yue _was_ made with limited knowledge of flame use, that could be difficult for someone without an active source of strong flames.

From what he could tell, Kero was more than just the "Sun guardian" of the cards. He was also Hotaru's Sun Guardian, while Ryohei had a lesser Element bond.

Considering _who_ he suspected Hotaru's father was, and their recent luck with their heirs, he was not about to let the Vongola try to reclaim Hotaru because of their own incompetence.

Which meant Arashi would have to cut off all access _before_ Vongola Nono attempted to use her for his own ends.

And he knew exactly where to start on his search to secure Hotaru's safety from the machinations of that foolish Don.

Hotaru hadn't really used her new staff since becoming Card Mistress. So when Arashi asked her to look into an event during a specific date in her past, she was willing to give it a try.

In order to make it visible to everyone, she was pairing Time's power with that of Mirror. It was an unusual way of "scrying" or "divination" as Kero called it...but it was just a creative application of a skill already well documented. Clow had been very talented at the art, and the cards were originally set up as a 'tarot' deck.

Which meant there was a precedent for the magic to work like it should.

"Time, Mirror, show the events of the past to me!" said Hotaru, touching the large mirror Arashi had brought out with her staff.

The mirror _rippled_ and flowed until it showed a scene from last year.

"I want to you to take the image back to roughly nine and a half to ten years ago. It should be centered around your home," said Arashi gently.

Hotaru nodded, and had a feeling which 'event' Arashi wanted to investigate. She couldn't remember a few of the details, but she vividly remembered every time her father had been around and that would have been around the same time period.

Arashi looked both pleased...and very pissed off by the end of the memory Hotaru had pulled up.

He had suspected they had sealed her for her own safety, as having too strong flames could be bad for a child's health.

He _never_ suspected Iemitsu would seal his own daughter, a newly awakened Sky, simply because he didn't want to _train_ her in how to use it or reveal the lies he had given his wife!

On the plus side, he now had valid reasons to claim Iemitsu and Timoteo had _deliberately_ removed Hotaru from the line of Vongola succession...and to a lesser extent Iemitsu's constant absence _also_ removed his claim over his daughter as her parent.

Now he had to prove that their actions invalidated any claims they had on her as a Vongola.

And he would have to make it iron-clad if he wanted the Honorable Law Keepers to back him up on this.

 _A few months later..._

Hotaru looked at Jaeger and Bermuda. Arashi had been very startled at the appearance of Bermuda for some reason...and highly unsettled, but hid his reaction quickly enough.

" _ **You claim that the Vongola have invalidated one of their heirs. By what right have you reached out to us?"**_ asked Bermuda bluntly.

Arashi took out several records, which upon closer inspection turned out to be her school records.

"When my Sky was around five years old, she went Active. Her _father_ decided without consulting anyone to have his Don seal her rather than train her. All because he wanted to maintain his image with his wife, who is cleared to know about the underworld and flames because of her marriage to him but was kept completely in the dark about what her husband does. The result of the seal caused her to become stunted...emotionally, physically and mentally. Her grades went from roughly average in class to dead last within a week. I have records that the teachers took her to see a pediatrician to uncover the source of her sudden change in behavior, but came up empty."

Bermuda accepted the copies, and confirmed their validity.

"From what I can tell, Iemitsu Sawada had her flames sealed entirely because he did not want to add his daughter to the 'official' line of succession as he did not want her to conflict with Vongola Nono's four sons. As Nono was the one to seal her, I would like to present the case that he removed her from the line of direct succession and any claims he attempts to make as the Don of the Vongola family are invalid," said Arashi calmly. "Furthermore Hotaru identifies first as a sorceress, _not_ as a flame user and is therefor a neutral party at this time."

Bermuda was silent. The Storm had presented his case in clear, concise facts that could be easily verified...and they had already confirmed Iemitsu _and_ Timoteo Vongola had been present around the time the seal was applied, and were the likely source.

The Vongola still had two heirs, and the seal was applied before the line of succession was ever brought into question. Besides, the girl was still _technically_ a civilian, since her magic was masking the presence of Sky flames.

" _ **...If you wish to establish a new famiglia, you must file the same forms as everyone else. We will accept the claim that Hotaru Sawada is no longer part of the Vongola due to the actions of the current Don and her own father, and that any attempts to claim her as such are false."**_

"And Iemitsu's claim as her father?"

Bermuda cast a bland look at the pictures of the house. There wasn't a single picture of Iemitsu anywhere.

" _ **Any claims as her sire are invalidated. Even I can see that his presence here is minimal, if nonexistent at best."**_

Arashi hid the pleased smile at that. It meant that if Hotaru had Iemitsu's assassinated it wouldn't be considered patricide since the Vindice didn't acknowledge him as her father.

The Vindice disappeared, but a week later Arashi got a copy of the papers declaring that "Hotaru Sawada" was now considered a "free Sky" without a famiglia to tie her down and that she had been effectively "cast out" by the actions of Vongola Nono.

Hotaru happily went to the registration office to have Iemitsu Sawada's name removed from her family register. As far as the Japanese government was concerned, she had effectively erased Iemitsu's status as her father. She would have attempted to get him declared dead, but it would take some time to pull that off and there was a chance Iemitsu would find out and put a stop to it.

Removing her from his control was enough for the moment.

If there was one unspoken fact about Fon (now Arashi), it was that he was a total troll when the mood suited him. He was just far more discreet about it than Reborn ever was, which was why no one ever suspected the polite smiling Storm of being capable of some spectacular chaos.

As far as the other Arcobaleno knew, "Fon" had been killed off. So the presence of a 'son' would throw them off balance _and_ give him a discreet way to troll the hell out of everyone.

Because after all, what were the odds Fon would find a way to break the curse and not inform the others?

Arashi debated on what to make his new username before inspiration hit.

 _Moonlit_Storm_ : hello?

 _ChaosKing:_ How did you get on this chat board?

Arashi smirked.

 _KeimanLightning:_ I would like to know that as well. I had this specially secured for a _reason_.

 _Moonlit_Storm:_ my father informed me of it. He also gave me his passcode to insure I was able to reach out to potential allies.

 _OodakoRulez:_ who's your father?

 _Moonlit_Storm:_ He went by eye of the storm. I believe you knew him as Fon though.

Arashi sat back and enjoyed the havoc he just caused as the chat board _exploded_. This was entirely too entertaining.

 _ChaosKing:_ how do we know you're Fon's son?

 _Moonlit_Storm:_ I cannot prove it over the screen...but I do know one important piece of information he shared with me that can be easily verified.

 _KeimanLightning:_ and what information would that be?

 _Moonlit_Storm:_ the true whereabouts of the former "World's Greatest Hit Man" Renato Sinclair.

Once again, the chat board exploded. Arashi was having far too much fun with this, but he needed to insure the Vongola didn't try to spring any 'surprises' on him.

 _ChaosKing:_ why reach out to us now?

 _Moonlit_Storm:_ certain events have caused my Sky to become a 'neutral freelancer' according to the Vindice and I would rather not have any surprises come up due to the major players in Italy attempting to reassert their nonexistent control over them. As far as the Vindice are concerned, my Sky is _technically_ still considered a civilian despite being active.

 _ChaosKing:_ ...How can your Sky be removed from the line of succession, and have the Vindice back it up?

 _Moonlit_Storm:_ Because they were sealed when there was never any question over who would inherit. However recent events have clearly indicated the Don of that particular famiglia is grossly incompetent and incapable of keeping their Sky line _alive_. I thought it prudent to clarify that my Sky is not under their control as they assumed because of their own actions.

Which was all true without indicating which famiglia his Sky was from, outside of the fact it was based in Italy.

Still, with how paranoid they all were it was understandable they wouldn't believe his claim right away.

At least he had opened up an avenue of communication, which was what he was aiming for at the moment.

A few weeks later, they reached out again. It was simple enough to send little tidbits to confirm he "knew" Fon well enough to fake being close.

And since all he was asking for was general updates on recent events in Italy, he was quickly updated on all the interesting gossip he had been missing out on.

He hadn't really taken an interest before, but that was because he had been a freelancer in China. He was Hotaru's Storm now and he couldn't afford to be caught off guard by 'common gossip' from Italy.


	10. Chapter 10

It started out as an innocent slip-up. Hotaru spent so much time around the Yamamoto family thanks to Sword that when it happened, it felt almost natural to call him that.

She accidentally called Tsuyoshi "papa" in his hearing.

Tsuyoshi, rather than look startled, smiled at her fondly and gently ruffled her hair without a second thought.

Takeshi grinned even wider, as he had already thought of Hotaru as his little sister even before she became the official Card Mistress.

Arashi, when he witnessed the event, smiled quietly.

He also pulled Tsuyoshi aside later that night while Hotaru and Takeshi did their homework together.

"I don't know about you, but I think we need to cut off another potential access for the Vongola to reclaim Hotaru."

"What do you have in mind?" asked Tsuyoshi.

"I've always considered Nana's apathy towards the unusual incidents and even her own daughter's situation to be highly abnormal. I think she has untreated depression or something more sinister, except no one has ever looked close enough to notice it yet. And considering how she reacts whenever Iemitsu is mentioned, or even a _hint_ of him returning to visit..."

Tsuyoshi was silent, but his eyes darkened slightly. He could see where Arashi was going.

Hotaru loved her mother deeply, so the idea that Iemitsu would use Nana to force her to follow their plans in order to regain control was far too likely for him to like.

"What do you have in mind?"

"We quietly bring attention to the issue, and claim Nana incapable of acting as her daughter's legal guardian. While Hotaru will likely visit often, I think we need to clarify who actually _has_ her best interests in heart. It might also give Nana a chance to heal from whatever is wrong with her, or at least give them some distance," said Arashi simply.

In short, Arashi wanted Tsuyoshi to be given custody to minimize any potential upheaval over the transition. It would also allow Hotaru to fully bond to him as a daughter, since she reacted around him as if he were her actual father in the first place. If she made a slip up like that while in a calm setting, then it was clear to him that she had subconsciously replaced Iemitsu with Tsuyoshi as a father figure in her life.

Besides, she was practically considered part of the family anyway. This would just make it official and keep the evolving sword style that the family favored "in the family" so to speak.

Tsuyoshi had no arguments to the idea, and he knew Takeshi would be all for it.

* * *

Arashi couldn't take it anymore. He had been escorting Fi (Fight) to the Boxing club to play with Hotaru's secondary Sun guardian when he noticed something. Something he should have seen earlier, but had been too busy to track down.

Ryohei was leaking Sun Flames. Actually pouring off would be a better term for it.

He had noticed someone flame active running around all over town, but since it had appeared benign he had ignored.

Being this close, it was impossible to ignore who the source of the flames he had noticed was.

Arashi silently sighed. If left alone Ryohei would be lucky to last past thirty... no human was supposed to have their flames active constantly without some dire consequences.

It would seem he would have to fix this issue before it caused the teen some serious health problems later. Fortunately he had a good idea how to go about it too... Ryohei was clearly in need of a good sparring partner and someone who knew what they were doing in training.

Arashi waited a few days, before calmly entering the ring.

"Mind having a bout with me? My knowledge of boxing is somewhat limited, but I do know something of martial arts," offered Arashi.

The smile Ryohei let off when he realized someone else wanted to spar with him was almost blinding. Arashi felt a pang of sympathy... it was hard to find proper opponents in a civilian setting, especially since Ryohei's enthusiam was quite off-putting.

It only got brighter when he realized Arashi could keep up with him and actually made him work for a win.

Arashi didn't actually _know_ much boxing...but he did know Russian Sambo thanks to Lal and Colonello, and he knew Muy Thai.

Needless to say Arashi won the match, but Ryohei wasn't dissuaded in the least.

"If you want, I can teach you other styles besides boxing. Just relying on one hand to hand style makes you predictable," offered Arashi. "Besides, your little sister is best friends with Hotaru-chan. It would be remiss of me not to offer a chance to improve your skills to protect her and her friend Hana."

Ryohei gave him a long look, before he said "You're an extreme man, Arashi!"

Arashi smiled at him.

"We can start tomorrow. I've noticed your training schedule and I think you can be much more efficient at it. Training for the sake of training is simply going to make you stagnate as a fighter."

Seeing he had Ryohei's full attention, the martial artist side in Arashi smiled pleased. It was nice to have an attentive student.

"You don't mind small children, do you?"

Ryohei shook his head.

"We'll start tomorrow then."

 _The next morning..._

Ryohei was surprised to find Arashi and a small child about five or so on his shoulder.

"This is I-Pin. She's my father's adopted daughter and former apprentice. I've taken up her training since he no longer can."

"It's extremely nice to meet you, I-Pin!" said Ryohei cheerfully.

I-Pin waved from her spot on Arashi's shoulder in a happy manner.

Ryohei followed Arashi quietly...for him...while conversing the with the other boy.

If he was surprised that the first thing Arashi had them do was sit down, relax and meditate, he said nothing.

Arashi made sure Ryohei was in a loose, relaxed state before he calmly spoke to the other boy.

The first thing he wanted to fix was the 'leak' Ryohei had on his flames, because that was something that could hurt him long term if he didn't fix it sooner rather than later.

"Ryohei, I want you to focus inside of you and look for a blazing ball of fire that's like the sun. It's warm and fills you up with energy. Can you do that?" said Arashi in a calm, soothing tone.

Ryohei's breathing stayed at an even pace, even as he nodded.

He knew what Arashi was talking about. It was the sunny warmth that allowed him to keep going even against the older kids. The same warmth that had allowed him to fight off the teenagers who took his sister hostage the day he got the scar on his face.

It was right there, blazing merrily like a ball of sunlight in his chest.

"Focus on that warmth. I want you to draw it inwards, until it forms a sphere. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to at least shrink a bit."

"Isn't it supposed to be like that?" asked Ryohei, opening his eyes and looking at Arashi confused. He thought the sun was supposed to blaze brightly as it could.

Arashi smiled indulgently at him.

"Imagine an engine going at full blast constantly, every day all day. What do you think is going to happen to it if it doesn't take a rest?" asked Arashi.

"It's going to burn out and need maintenance."

"That warmth in your chest has had you going at 'full' ever since it woke up. For now it hasn't done any harm, but once you get older it's going to wear out and make your body wear out that much faster. Wouldn't you rather build up endurance to handle longer fights, instead of going as you had been until now?" asked Arashi.

Ryohei thought that over. Now that Arashi mentioned it, he did notice something was weird about him. He was always so restless, and had to exercise a lot to get rid of the excess energy in him. Was it because that warmth had been going too strong all this time?

It would be nice to actually relax for once. He knew he made his sister worried with how much energy he had all the time and his inability to sit still for long periods.

"How do I draw it in?" he asked.

Arashi's smile was warm and gentle.

"It's your energy. Imagine compressing the warmth in you chest until it becomes a sphere. It's not going to be easy, and it'll probably take a bit before it settles down, but you'll notice a major difference once we're done."

Ryohei eagerly listened to Arashi's soothing instructions. He wasn't kidding about it being hard.

Arashi sighed when he checked the time.

"We should put a stop for now. It's almost lunch time."

"I can extremely keep going!" said Ryohei. He felt frustrated because he almost had it.

"Doing something like this might not be physically exhausting, but it is mentally exhausting. Besides, I can hear I-Pin's stomach growling already."

Ryohei winced. He had forgotten they weren't alone.

He paused by I-Pin and silently offered his shoulder. The little girl was surprised, but smiled brightly when Arashi nodded and happily sat on the white-haired teen's shoulder.

Ryohei felt something in him relax when they entered TakeSushi and he saw Hotaru in there, with Hana and Kyoko.

Something about Hotaru made him feel happy and relaxed every time she was around. He knew it wasn't anything romantic... being around her was more like having a second little sister around. He felt an arm sling around his shoulder and found Takeshi there grinning.

"You guys hungry?"

Ryohei nodded. He hadn't realized how tired he was until then.

Arashi put I-Pin with the other girls, with Hotaru happily allowing her to sit in her lap.

He went over to Tsuyoshi with a calm smile on his face.

"Where have you been?" asked Tsuyoshi quietly.

"I'm going to try and fix the 'leak' problem Ryohei has with his flames. It's not healthy for him to go full blast like that," commented Arashi.

Tsuyoshi eyed the louder teenager, happily comparing sports with Takeshi. He could feel the secondary bond the teen had with Hotaru, so he dismissed him as a threat.

"By the way, the papers will be finalized next week."

Tsuyoshi was rather calm about the entire thing, though inwardly he wished Hotaru didn't need to be put through all this.

Arashi had Nana discreetly put under observation by several trained psychiatrists and therapists for over a week. She had simply thought she had been given a minor vacation to a rather nice beach while Hotaru had a sleepover with the Hibari clan with Chrome.

He was entirely unsurprised to learn Nana had untreated depression and was firmly stuck in a delusion regarding her child's health and her own marriage. She was willfully blind to the fact her daughter had been more or less emotionally abused and tormented by everyone around her and the fact that her own inability to process that something was wrong had caused a lot of damage to Hotaru's self-confidence.

Which was why Arashi had it arranged so that Tsuyoshi was registered as Hotaru's "legal guardian". It also cut off another way for the Vongola to reclaim her, as he knew full well Nana would happily go along with almost any demand Iemitsu made in an attempt to keep him around longer.

As it was, Hotaru mostly took an overnight bag when she went to stay at her old home. She practically lived in the Yamamoto home as an unofficial member of the family, considering Nana was still very much alive and Hotaru was quite close to her mother.

It took Arashi two weeks before he pinned down the most efficient way to get Ryohei to meditate _and_ draw his flames inward so they didn't leak all over the place. In retrospect, he should have known a more active meditation style would have suited the teen better.

On the plus side, Ryohei no longer shown like a beacon to anyone who could sense flames. He still had minor slip-ups, but at least he was keeping some of that energy in reserve.

Ryohei honestly had no idea that exercising constantly like he had was keeping his muscles from 'recovering' to a point he would actually get stronger. Being forced to take a break for a day or two revealed a remarkable change in how much strength...he was able to knock the punching bag clear off the chain with three hits, instead of the ten he previously used before!

(Arashi privately suspected Ryohei would only get better under some military style training. It was a pity he couldn't introduce the Sunny teen to Colonello or Lal at this point...they would likely love to train him!)

* * *

"Shishishi... You've found a Sky," said a teen with a crown on his head.

Tsuyoshi barely batted an eye at the bloodlust that radiated off the teenager.

"Hello Prince Belphegor. Here for your usual?"

Bel nodded, and went to the private room that Tsuyoshi opened up without a word.

He had just settled in when he heard an odd commotion outside.

" _Wait, Kero! Not that one!"_ said a female voice. He perked up when he felt Sky flames outside the door.

" _You can't feel that bloodlust? Who walks around with_ that _being their normal?!"_

Belphegor looked at the door curiously. He could feel an agitated Sun outside with their Sky. He grinned and drew one of his knives.

So you could imagine his surprise coming face to face with...

"Shishishi...so the floating bear thinks he can challenge the prince?" sneered Bel.

"Kero! Behave, he's a customer!" scolded the female Sky. She was the one who bonded with the chef peasant who could handle royal requests.

She also looked very familiar.

Belphegor had an epiphany as to why.

"So you're the spawn of that pathetic Iemitsu," spat Belphegor.

Saying that the Varia (from the Elite to the mooks) despised Iemitsu was an understatement. It was a mutual hatred, because Iemitsu had this sense of undeserved superiority over them simply due to the fact Vongola Nono favored CEDEF over the Varia every time.

The girl blinked confused.

"How do you know that deadbeat drunk that pretends he's married to my mother?" she asked slowly.

Belphegor blinked at that.

"You don't know?"

She continued to stare at him confused. He almost missed the presence of a stronger Storm than him appearing.

"Iemitsu apparently operates under the delusion that 'ignorance' and distance is the best safety measure for his _civilian_ family. He hasn't been here in over five years at least and acts as though he works construction in the arctic," said the Storm dryly, though there was a hint of irritation in his voice.

Clearly the Storm disliked Iemitsu.

"Shishishi. So while the External Adviser peasant is living it up in Italy, he's left his wife and kid alone with little to no support?" sneered Belphegor.

Oh to be a fly on the wall when that lie came crashing down.

The Storm eyed him for a moment.

"You're the Varia Storm officer, Belphegor. Has the Ninth bothered to release Xanxus yet, or is he still pretending to keep him under house arrest?" asked the Storm calmly.

Belphegor's sneer dropped and a sense of alert wariness came across his features.

"The Boss is still under 'house arrest'," said the Prince.

"Perhaps we should discuss this later," said Arashi. He had noticed the chef approaching with the food, and he would rather the Prince be in a good mood from having a full stomach than deal with him being cranky from hunger.


	11. Chapter 11

Hotaru felt absolutely numb after Arashi cautiously explained about the Vongola, Iemitsu, and the current situation with Belphegor's Sky Xanxus.

Considering no one was entirely clear _what_ Vongola Nono had done to him, she felt it prudent to scry into the past and find out for herself. Belphegor had admitted that the bond was still present, but it felt...dull. Empty. Like it wasn't sure whether he was alive or dead in the first place.

Needless to say there were quite a few outraged parties after seeing Xanxus confront Timoteo over his adoption and the lie that he was the man's son...which made him an heir and able to inherit the titles... only for Timoteo to give a rather sanctimonious speech with a fake 'disappointed father' expression on his face right before freezing him using a flame technique neither of the Storms had ever seen before.

The thing that horrified her the most was the expression in Timoteo's eyes when he froze his 'son'. There was no empathy, no pain or hurt. His eyes were empty and emotionless. As if it was just business.

Hotaru shivered.

Suddenly the knowledge that her father's "boss" had sealed her flames away, leaving her completely helpless against the dark side of Sky Attraction was far too easy to believe. That man didn't care about others, just himself.

So long as Vongola Nono kept his power close, he wouldn't hesitate to hurt those closest to him. It explained why he never handed over the reigns to his heir when the man was more than old enough to take over and even had guardians.

So in an effort to take her mind of the apparent callousness of the Ninth and his Guardians, Arashi pushed her to the dojo and put a _normal_ sword that was meant for practice in her hands. By this point she could subconsciously draw on Sword to increase her skill level in it's use, though she preferred her fists to a weapon.

Takeshi took one look at his little sister's expression, before pulling out another practice sword.

By this point she really _was_ his little sister, and nothing anyone said would change that fact.

No words were said. The moment Takeshi began his attack and Hotaru defended, her mind began to clear of all the uncertainty, fear and doubt. All that mattered in that moment was "attack and defend", as the soothing rhythm of their movements fell into a familiar pattern.

By the time Hotaru admitted defeat, as Takeshi had far better endurance than she did (never mind the fact she preferred 'defense' over 'attack), she no longer felt upset. Just tired and clear headed.

"Feel better, imouto?" asked Takeshi, helping her up.

"I do, actually," said Hotaru. Though her arms felt like jelly at the moment. Takeshi had an impish expression on his face as he picked her up piggy-back style, and grinned when she squeaked.

Hotaru settled across his back and happily wrapped her arms around his neck. It was nice having family that actually cared.

* * *

Chrome was fidgeting.

"What wrong?" asked Hotaru. It had been well over a year since she rescued her little sister from her 'family', and she had thought Chrome was a bit more confident now.

"Um... is it normal to dream about boys you've never met?" she asked in a rush.

Arashi grinned.

"What sort of dreams?" he asked.

Chrome looked uncomfortable, but settled into the hug Hotaru gave her. She drew strength from her sister being right next to her.

"I keep seeing a boy in my dreams. He had a really weird hair style that reminds me of a pineapple and mismatched eyes. The right one is red and has kanji written in it that appears to be numbers, except it keeps changing. He's mostly amused that we keep seeing each other, once he got over his paranoia," said Chrome quietly. "He said he has two friends with him, but they can't come into the dream."

"Can you show us what he looks like?" asked Arashi with interest.

Chrome was a Mist...and from the sound of things, there was a possibility she was picking up on the 'signal' of another compatible Mist.

And if that was the case, then it could potentially mean extra protection for Hotaru. Chrome was decent enough, but she specialized in the more subtle applications of Mist flames. Having another Mist might not be a bad thing.

"Why don't we ask a few things of your new friend. Perhaps we can help him," said Arashi.

Chrome perked up at that. From what Mukuro told her, they were being chased by someone.

"What's his name?"

"Rokudo Mukuro," said Chrome.

Arashi had a rather...fixed...expression on his face.

"Are you sure that was his name?" asked Arashi seriously.

She nodded.

He sighed.

"Hotaru-hime, I think we're going to need another scrying session before we make contact with him."

"Why?" asked Hotaru curiously.

"Because Rokudo Mukuro is known as a wanted man by the Vindice," explained Arashi. "If we offer him sanctuary it could easily lead to the Honored Law Keepers coming after us by proxy for helping him. If we found a reasonable explanation for his behavior, however... we could plead for leniency."

Hotaru didn't mind scrying. She found looking into past events in history fascinating.

She was also a secret fan of Daniela Vongola, upon learning she had been the only female Don of the Vongola family during World War II. The woman had been a total bad ass and she admired her for the fact she was capable of telling the men around her where to shove their opinions in order to let her do her job. She wanted to be that strong when she was older!

Though Arashi would never dare admit the pleased expression on his face when Hotaru once scryed on Luce after he briefly mentioned her...and the way Hotaru had called her a complete disappointment as a Sky and as a person.

What Hotaru found had her both appalled and very upset. Mukuro might be considered a criminal, but from what she saw any murderous impulses he had towards the mafia was completely justified!

There was no way she could let this stand. They needed to clear this up and give those three a proper chance to heal from the damage done to them.

Arashi felt a shiver of anticipation and pride watching Hotaru go into protective mode over a boy she had never met. Seeing her take charge like this was a nice change of pace.

Besides, he had an idea that would definitely earn her approval considering how protective she was over a teenager. He just had to arrange things right to pull it off with no one the wiser.

 _In the dreamscape..._

Chrome didn't have to wait long for Mukuro to show up. He found her interesting.

"I sense something is different..." he said, looking around carefully.

So he was quite surprised when another girl appeared to stand next to Chrome.

"Who are you?" he said defensively.

"My name is Hotaru Yamamoto. I'm Chrome's Sky and her sister," she said gently.

Mukuro looked betrayed. What he knew of Skies said that she would try to force him to bond with her and control him.

He glared at Chrome.

"You brought your Sky here?" he hissed. Chrome flinched.

"Nee-san wants to help. But she wanted to hear it from you first why you killed that other famiglia."

"I saw what they did to you. Those people had no right to experiment on you and put you through such torture, never mind your two friends," said Hotaru.

"What would you know about it?" demanded Mukuro, angry.

"They would inject you with chemicals that forced you into a near death state that made you suffer visions of a hell-like existence," said Hotaru crisply and without hesitation. "They would also cut you in order to see your healing rate and took out your right eye with little or no pain killers and implanted an eye that was compatible from the cloned body of a man who died several hundred years ago. The result of which caused the eye in question to turn a bloody red, and your flames created a pathway that allowed you to channel different types of illusions more effectively."

Mukuro stared at her in shock.

No one was aware of how he got the eye...they were always too busy being terrified of the illusions he set on them using it. And the two he had kept alive from the labs didn't care considering they had been put through their own special form of hell.

So the fact she _knew_ what happened to him was enough to at least earn his interest.

"How..."

"Nee-san has a special power that lets her view the past. When I mentioned you she looked into yours to find out why you hated the mafia so much and what drove you to kill the first family," said Chrome quietly, hoping Mukuro didn't hate her for this.

"I want to know the specifics as to why you killed the famiglia that took you in. Otherwise we're going to have a very hard time asking the Honored Law Keepers to have leniency for you and your friends about what you did."

"Who are the Honored Law Keepers?" asked Mukuro. He wasn't familiar with the term.

"I believe the Italians know them better as the Vindice. You'll find the Triads and the Yakuza don't have nearly as much issue with them as the mafia and the mob do," said Hotaru dryly. "And my Storm has gone to a great deal of trouble to remove any control the mafia has over my actions. At this point I'm a neutral faction in Japan. The Vindice still consider me a 'civilian in the know' by their terms."

Mostly because she was more inclined to use magic instead of flames. She rarely bothered with her Sky flames because her magic was far more useful and had far more applications.

Seeing she had Mukuro's full interest, she waited expectantly for his answer.

"...The famiglia that took us in were so pleased to have me that they considered my two minions disposable. They were openly discussing sending them on missions they had no business being part of while making arrangements to try and use me as collateral with a Sky, with no thoughts of keeping us together. The only person who treated us as actual children also happened to be the strongest one in the famiglia. There was no way in hell I was going to let them separate us...so I killed them using his body," said Mukuro reluctantly. "None of them would have cared about Ken or Chikusa, so they got what they deserved."

Hotaru nodded in agreement. The sort of loyalty Mukuro was displaying should be nurtured, not torn apart.

"Did any of you undergo therapy at all for the trauma you suffered from the labs?"

"Those idiot mafioso didn't notice or care... they were just annoyed we kept having loud screaming nightmares and were going to drug us so we wouldn't keep waking them up," said Mukuro in disgust.

Ken had it the worst, though Chikusa often had bad nights where he couldn't sleep at all. Mukuro simply let them crash with him and take comfort in his presence, and most of the time they slept in the same bed anyway.

None of the adults gave a damn about them or their bonds. They just wanted to use them for their own benefit.

He barely registered Hotaru being so close...until he felt her _hug_ him.

"No one should have to go through that sort of treatment. Especially someone who's suffered so much already."

He desperately wanted to reach out, to let that warmth envelop him and wash away all the uncertainty and fear. But cold hard experience stayed his hand.

He did quietly enjoy the hug though.

"I promise I'll do everything in my power to help you and your friends. You've suffered enough, and anyone who was as nice to Chrome as you have been deserves a second chance."

For the first time in a very long time, Mukuro felt a flicker of hope. It was small, barely the same amount as a candle flame, but it was still there.

Something inside told him to trust her. To believe she would follow through.

* * *

 _Three days later..._

It had taken a lot of effort, but Arashi was able to track down evidence of what Mukuro had told them. It seemed the famiglia that had 'rescued' them had made an order of some dangerous sleeping drugs (it was far too easy for children to overdose on them, especially as underweight as Mukuro and his friends had been) shortly before the incident that resulted in their destruction. There were also talks between allied families regarding a potential Mist young enough to be trained into being basically brainwashed into loyalty, since the mafia had it in their heads that Mists were traitorous and more inclined to turn on their Skies due to their shifty nature.

Since he could find no evidence of any therapy or treatment for the inevitable PTSD that the trio had from their exposure to the hellish environment in the labs, it was doubtful the famiglia had known about the trauma in the first place.

That the lone survivor was also the only one to show any actual 'kindness' to them because they were children said volumes.

Either way, there was some doubt if the Vindice would give them a chance.

Hotaru waited on baited breath to hear from Bermuda about the matter. He was a busy man after all.

Arashi had to fight the impulse to flinch when Jaeger and Bermuda appeared from the portal.

" _ **We have reviewed the evidence you have provided,"**_ said Bermuda crisply, not bothering to dally over the matter.

Hotaru waited patiently.

" _ **After viewing the evidence, it would appear that the destruction of the Drago famiglia was from mishandling of a traumatized Mist child. If the boy can show enough control to follow the law, then he**_ **may** ** _be given a pardon. However if he kills again without cause, there will be no leniency. We will arrest him and he will never see the outside of the Vindicare,"_ ** said Bermuda. There was no room for 'kindness' in his voice.

The Vindice leader was willing to allow that the famiglia had brought their destruction on themselves for failing to realize the Mist they took in had PTSD that needed treatment, and was bonded to his two friends, but that didn't mean they were going to let a loose cannon go free. He either toed the line from now on or he would be arrested and never see the light of day again.

Hotaru beamed at him.

"Thank you!"

Bermuda and Jaeger inclined their heads, before leaving.

Hotaru turned to Arashi.

"Can you pick them up so they don't get captured by the mafia? I'm sure it will take some time for the news that they were 'pardoned' to filter through their coffee-addled heads."

Arashi hid a smile at that comment. Hotaru could drink coffee, but she much preferred tea. Then again she had never had a proper cup of coffee before, just the mass-manufactured nonsense.

"Of course, Hotaru-hime," he purred.

Besides, this gave him a chance to pick up one...extra...that he was sure his princess would absolutely adore and spoil rotten.


	12. Chapter 12

Hotaru was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mukuro and his friends. So was Chrome, for mostly the same reasons.

She sensed Arashi first, and made a beeline right for him.

"Arashi!" she said happily, hugging him. Only to blink in confusion when she felt something squirm in his arms. "Who's this?"

"This is Lambo. A...comrade...of sorts kept complaining about his attempts to kill him, so I thought it would be better if I brought him here instead," said Arashi calmly. "Considering the circumstances, I'm fairly certain the Vindice won't care if he stays here."

Lambo was a little boy roughly the same age as I-Pin with fluffy hair in an afro, tiny little horns on either side of his head and green-eyes. He wore a cute cow-onesie that even had a tail on the back of it and seemed to give off the feeling of 'lightning' in his flames.

He was currently rather jetlagged, but the second he saw Hotaru he brightened up.

"Ah! You're the one who gives Lambo-sama nice hugs!" he said happily.

Hotaru wasn't the only one confused. Arashi clearly had no idea Lambo would _recognize_ her.

Didn't stop her from taking Lambo and letting him curl into her side though. She could feel her flames reaching out and coiling around his own, sinking deep.

"...I wasn't expecting you to harmonize with him that fast," admitted Arashi. "Good thing you have Meilin to act as your lightning. Lambo is still far too immature to take that post."

Meilin was rather pleased with her new lot in life, mostly because it kept her out of reach of the conniving Elders who would happily marry her off because she was from the branch family. She was far happier training under Arashi to be an effective Lightning for Hotaru.

Lambo snuggled into Hotaru's side, and she turned to find Mukuro and his trio. She smiled brightly at them.

"Welcome home, Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa."

Mukuro straightened slightly...because she made a point to say that to all of them, not just him. He could feel himself relaxing slightly in her presence.

"How did you get the Vindice to back off, pyon?" asked Ken. Because he had to know.

"I had Arashi gather evidence that they clearly didn't understand or care about the level of trauma you went through, and that Mukuro was simply protecting the bond you three had from their actions," said Hotaru. "The fact they were openly planning to separate you three, despite the fact you do have a minor flame bond was enough to convince them that his actions were justified...especially since he did spare the one person who hadn't been trying to break it. They should have done their research before trying to use you...their arrogance was their own downfall."

"The fact we were polite about the matter and were mostly pointing out that they were misinformed about certain matters didn't hurt."

Since Mukuro was compatible enough with Chrome that he accidentally started to Mist-walk in her dreams, with Chrome harmonized as Hotaru's current Mist, there was a high possiblity he was also capable of harmonizing with the unusual Sky as well.

If he was a threat, then Arashi would kill them immediately with help from Kyouya, thus they were no longer the Vindice's problem. If Mukuro had a Sky, then he might settle down and quit causing so much trouble.

Either way, he was no longer a danger to the flame community.

Feeling her flames wrap around all three of them like a soothing blanket, Mukuro only tensed for a few seconds before relaxing.

"Kufufufu...it's a pleasure to meet you in person, Hotaru-chan," he purred.

Hotaru beamed at him. He had to blink at the sparkles.

Arashi...hid a grin.

"Welcome to the chaos side. It only gets stranger from here and I honestly can't wait to see how you intend to top what happens around here on a daily basis," she chirped. Which had Arashi desperately trying not to crack up.

If Reborn wasn't such an arrogant troll, he might love it here. Besides, Arashi was allowed to be possessive of his princess...he wasn't about to let Reborn show up and potentially try to claim the affections he got on a daily basis.

Hotaru certainly didn't mind how affectionate Arashi was around her. If anything she seemed to be slowly reciprocating it, which pleased him to no end.

He would admit capturing the shell-shocked expression on their faces when they saw the spirits though. It was hilarious, especially when Kero showed up and started up a weird conversation with Ken over video games. The two hit it off almost immediately.

Though he was discreetly amused and pleased to the way I-Pin took to Lambo. He had known she was a bit lonely without having anyone to share things with, but the inclusion of the little cow (as everyone called him) made her cheer right up.

Even if she did call him a "broccoli monster" during their play times. It was all in good fun, so the older children allowed it with an indulgent smile on their faces.

* * *

Mukuro was very confused. Not just because of the lack of reaction Namimori had to the likes of the spirits that were bonded to Hotaru, the general behavior of Hibari Kyouya, or the floating bear that took full advantage of the fact that there was a sense of 'apathy' around the town to buy video games directly.

There was the strange sense of home and acceptance not just for him, but for Ken and Chikusa as well. Unlike before, it wasn't hiding a sense of barely concealed greed.

It took him a bit, and only after observing the way Hotaru treated his minions (he couldn't show affection or caring towards them...it implied weakness that they could ill afford among the mafia), did he understand why he felt off.

Hotaru genuinely cared about them and she didn't want them as a way to control Mukuro. She cared because she knew they had been badly traumatized by the adults they were supposed to trust and wanted them to belong.

It was really hard holding back every time Hotaru wrapped her flames around him. The acceptance and understanding she gave off over the suffering he endured alone... a lesser man would have folded already.

Rather than try to force the issue, Hotaru never tried to control him. Instead she quietly got him to open up, to vent about the pain he had gone through with Chrome nearby to hide his sudden 'weakness' from the world in case he was too emotional to do it himself.

It didn't hurt that Hotaru was perfectly accepting of the odd rivalry he had with Hibari, who seemed to be rather thrilled to have someone as bloodthirsty as him to 'play' with that wouldn't hold back.

And then, it happened.

He let his guard slip for only an instant around Hotaru, when her flames were wrapped around him in a soothing blanket offering something that went soul deep. It was like sinking into a warm bath after a bad day when you just needed to _relax_ and unwind. Like melted chocolate in your mouth that seeped into your very bones and brought just a little bit of light into your life.

He barely registered the gentle warmth around him from her hug. The feeling of Harmony seeping into his very core, not trying to dominate but to offer sanctuary even for someone as broken and damaged as him without a second thought of anything other than to provide him a home...it was indescribable.

If this was what Harmony was, then it was no wonder the mafia commited such dark acts to get their hands on it.

He leaned into her hold, not even noticing the hug from little Chrome as well.

"Welcome home, Mukuro," said Hotaru gently, letting him bask into her presence. He vaguely noticed the minor bonds she had with Ken and Chikusa...how long had they been there?

Hotaru gently threaded her hands through his hair, letting Mukuro settle into the bond. She knew he would be clingy for a while...possibly quite a long time considering what he went through...but she was okay with that. She knew he needed something like that to cling to in order to properly heal.

He would never be entirely 'normal'...but at least it would give him some restraint over his bloodthirsty nature.

It was a good thing Tsuyoshi didn't mind the mixed gender sleepovers they kept having. Then again the only one to show that sort of 'interest' in her was Arashi who was perfectly capable of controlling his hormones until she was ready for such a thing.

Mukuro was _very_ possessive, though not in a way that would make Arashi feel threatened. It was more of a 'anyone who threatens her will wish for death by the time I am through with you' sort of possessive.

Hotaru felt like she _should_ be more disturbed by the way Mukuro seemed to be influencing Chrome, Illusion and Create, but considering she saw Arashi giving them _ideas_ she happily pleaded ignorance.

Just like she hid a smile every time she saw Ken, Takeshi and Kero arguing over video games.

* * *

She should have known the peaceful days wouldn't last. On the plus side, she had a weapon against the Chaotic pain in the ass that would show up.

One he would never see coming.

When Reborn arrived at her mother's home claiming he was there to train her, Hotaru knew there was only one reasonable way to react to that statement. She was just glad she had the foresight to leave the window open.

It made flying off and heading straight to Arashi for back-up that much easier, particularly since she had Time stop Reborn in his place before he had a chance to react.

Arashi looked up at her in confusion. Hotaru was considerably _lax_ about using magic, but she NEVER used it this openly unless there was a pressing need for it.

"Fake toddler with a black suit, a hat with an orange band around it with a lizard that is green with orange eyes, and a yellow pacifier. Also has ridiculously curly sideburns and introduced himself at the door with the oddly mangled word of 'Ciaossu'," said Hotaru bluntly, once she landed.

Arashi had a tired look on his face.

"Reborn. What does he want here, I wonder?" said Arashi in annoyance.

"I recognized him from what little you said about him, but considering his occupation I felt it was a better idea to high-tail it out of there once I had Time stop him cold," admitted Hotaru.

She was _not_ going to trust some random flier her mother found that morning about a 'home tutor', especially when the one who showed up was _Reborn_ of all people. He was a hit man, which was all the reason she needed to get the hell out of there and get reinforcements.

Arashi smiled at her, pleased with her reaction. That being said he was less than happy Reborn was here at all.

"Call the others here while I find Reborn and get an explanation for his presence in Namimori."

Hotaru nodded, not even considering the idea of arguing. It didn't take long for her Elements (she refused to call them Guardians except for Kero and Yue) to gather around and create an unspoken protective barrier. Even Kyouya was there, though he kept his distance. He didn't like having a disruptive element like Reborn present in his town either, especially without warning like this.

Arashi found Reborn, still frozen in time. The part of him that was Yue quietly dismissed the spirit, who returned to Hotaru without a word.

Reborn blinked, but he couldn't fully hide his shock at seeing Arashi instead of the 'weak, submissive' girl that he had been sent to train.

"What reason could the World's Greatest Hit Man have to enter a civilian city and deliberately intrude in my Sky's home?" asked Arashi pleasantly.

"And you are?"

"Hibari Arashi. Fon was my father," he said flatly.

Which was a lie, but he highly doubted Reborn would guess the truth.

"...Moonlit_Storm?" said Reborn carefully.

"ChaosKing," he replied evenly. "Why did you enter my Sky's home under false pretenses? Because if you're here to kill her then I must warn you that I will personally insure your demise," said Arashi.

Reborn eyed him with quiet interest.

"You certainly have your father's sense of tact," he commented. "And I didn't enter here under false pretenses. I've been hired to train her."

Arashi's half-lidded eyes held poorly disguised annoyance.

"If you're here to tell me the Vongola have finally taken note that she exists again, then I must inform you that any claim they had on her as a potential heir has long since been rendered invalid by their own arrogance. I have Vindice-backed paperwork stating that my Sky is no longer considered a Vongola or affiliated with them save for blood," said Arashi bluntly.

Reborn barely twitched, though it was clear this information caught him off guard.

"I was not informed that she had been cast out."

"Considering we kept everything quiet, you wouldn't be. I would rather not remind that incompetent fool who believes he is her father to remember she exists and that she is almost of marriageable age. Not that Iemitsu has any more claim on her than the Vongola does. By this point his status as father has been replaced by someone far more reliable who actually wants the job," said Arashi evenly. "The fact remains that despite being of the Primo's bloodline, Hotaru is not a viable heir of the Vongola after they deliberately cast her out long before the succession was ever thrown into question."

"By what reasoning?" asked Reborn, honestly curious.

"Iemitsu openly asked Timoteo Vongola to seal her, for her 'safety'. Considering she would have been fifth in line, as she was only five when her flames went active and Enrico was still very much alive, the Vindice agreed that by the Ninth's own actions in placing a seal on her that he cast her out of the famiglia and that her claim as heir was rendered invalid. That she was deliberately kept away from the famiglia and raised a civilian with no training whatsoever towards her 'place' in the mafia or in the family reinforces this," said Arashi simply. "I can have the paperwork brought over to verify that the Vindice back this up within the hour, if you wish."

"Please," said Reborn, inwardly seething. He did not appreciate being lied to like this.

Once he saw the Vindice seal on the paperwork (it was very straightforward and to the point... Hotaru was not a Vongola save for her blood connection to the Primo, and any children she had would have to marry back into the family later) Reborn immediately called Timoteo.

He was not happy.

" _Is something wrong?"_ asked Timoteo pleasantly. He wasn't expecting Reborn to call so soon after reaching Japan.

"If by wrong you mean that you contracted me under false pretenses, then no, nothing is wrong," said Reborn openly seething.

" _...Excuse me?"_

"You sent me to train a potential heir that doesn't exist."

" _I assure you, little Hotaru is Iemitsu's daughter. Did something happen?"_ asked Timoteo in confusion. Did the family move?

Reborn couldn't completely hide the annoyance and anger in his tone.

"You mean outside the fact that the girl has _Vindice-sealed paperwork_ stating in no uncertain terms that you cast her out of the Vongola when she was five and rendered her status as an heir invalid? It's bad enough she was raised civilian... the Vindice have made it clear they don't consider her a Vongola at all."

" _WHAT?!"_ said Timoteo in shock. Reborn idly wondered if the man would have a heart attack, not that he particularly cared.

"Her Storm has Vindice-sealed paperwork on him that states she is not a Vongola and that you _cast her out_ when she was five. They also made it clear that if any of her Elements killed Iemitsu over his part in the stunt it wouldn't be considered Patricide," said Reborn flatly.

" _Her Storm? How would she have contact with the Vindice when she's a civilian?"_ said Timoteo, thoroughly off balance.

"Her Storm is Fon's son. He's the one who contacted them and insured that all the proper paperwork was filled," said Reborn bluntly.

Though if it wasn't for the Cloud secondary he sensed in the teen's flames, he would have sworn Arashi was Fon himself. Which was ridiculous because they had all seen his pacifier and Verde had confirmed it had belonged to Fon.

In any case Timoteo had better get his act together before Reborn bothered to train the girl. He wasn't about to put in so much effort when there was a question if the girl was legally able to inherit in the first place.

Besides, this gave him a chance to find out what sort of person Fon's son was like.


	13. Chapter 13

Reborn was thoroughly annoyed with Timoteo and Iemitsu. Not only was the information he was given about the girl in question almost entirely bullshit, but the contract he had signed was under false pretenses.

He had more or less blocked any attempts from the Vongola to contact him after the third time Timoteo tried to 'convince' him to change the girl's mind.

Considering Arashi was definitely at the same skill level as Fon before he died, he wasn't about to piss off the Storm. Besides, it was rather nice being around a Sky that wasn't trying to shove their flames down your throat in an attempt to forcibly bond with you. Hotaru already had all the positions in hers filled, so she wasn't reaching out for new ones instinctively. Instead she let her flames hover in the air as a sort of safety blanket for the more... damaged...of her Elements and didn't mind if others used it as well.

Even if she did have a tendency to 'cuddle' with him, she was at least polite enough to ask first and never treated him like an actual toddler. She afforded him the same respect one would give to an adult, which was a very nice change of pace from what he had to put up with until he broke out his guns and shot people.

The only thing that kept bugging the hell out of him (he ignored the floating teddy bear thing that called itself Kero, having already registered it as Hotaru's familiar and thus not worth his attention) was Arashi. He would swear on his fedora that the teen was Fon, except he knew for a fact Fon was a straight Storm, not a Storm with a decent Cloud secondary.

Plus there was the way he interacted with Reborn. It made it nearly impossible not to draw comparisons to Fon.

If it wasn't for the fact he had seen Fon's pacifier himself, and confirmed the flames, he would have thought the Storm faked his death.

Which was ridiculous, because if Fon had found a way to get the curse off surely he would have shared it with them. Right?

* * *

 _AtWitsEnd:_ Reborn, why do you have a communication ban going on?

 _ChaosKing:_ The Ninth and your Boss _lied_ to me. Timoteo wanted me to train their last heir, but Iemitsu hasn't bothered to keep track of his own daughter. Her Storm went to some rather impressive lengths to cut off all control the Vongola have over her.

 _SnakeInTheMist:_ What do you mean lied to you?

 _ChaosKing:_ the girl has _Vindice-sealed_ paperwork stating rather emphatically that she is not a Vongola. When Timoteo sealed her as a child at Iemitsu's request, he effectively cast her out of the family and removed her from the line of succession. Her Storm merely insured the Vindice knew what they did and pointed out that they had made it clear they didn't want her as part of the famiglia. And it really doesn't help their case that she was raised civilian.

 _SnakeInTheMist:_ are you telling me she's considered a freelance Sky?!

 _ChaosKing:_ if and when she wants to start her own Family, she has to file the same paperwork as any other Sky that isn't attached to one. At the moment she's still considered a "civilian" despite being Active with a full complement of Elements, plus a few extras.

 _AtWitsEnd:_ How the hell did that jackass miss this?

 _ChaosKing:_ to be fair, he also missed the fact his wife lost custody of the girl in question, and that the daughter he cast aside doesn't even acknowledge him as her father anymore.

He could feel Lal fuming over that knowledge, but to be fair Iemitsu brought all on himself.

 _ChaosKing:_ if the Vongola ask I'm on a vacation and unless they have an actual heir that needs training, completely unavailable for any contracts whatsoever. And I want actual proof of their candidacy before I even consider a contract.

Reborn closed out the chat window, and noticed an amused Arashi nearby.

"Sticking around are we?"

"I will figure out what the deal is with you even if it kills me," said Reborn flatly. Arashi's smirk widened.

He was going to _enjoy_ trolling the hell out of Reborn.

* * *

Dino was rather confused as to why Reborn made the 'request' that he visit Japan to meet his new student.

He had heard rumors that the Ninth had hired Reborn to train a potential heir...only for Reborn to _cancel_ it almost immediately upon meeting them.

So he was rather baffled as to why his former tutor would call him up.

The girl was fluffy, and he could feel the Sky flames off her long before he actually entered the restaurant. He only had Romario with him, since there wasn't enough room to have most of his men there.

"Stupid-Dino, what did I tell you about being late?" drawled Reborn.

"Reborn! It's not nice to call people something like that," scolded Hotaru. He almost gaped at her, because who talked back to Reborn like that?

"Ah, but for Reborn that sort of nickname is a term of endearment, Hotaru-hime," said her Storm with amusement.

She scowled at him.

"Considering the level of abuse Luce allowed Reborn to put Skull through, I would have to say otherwise," said Hotaru darkly.

It was clear she had a _very_ low opinion of the former Arcobaleno Sky, which was weird because she had died a long time ago.

Reborn scowled at her himself.

"I still say that trick of yours is a total cheat," said Reborn.

"You're just annoyed I was able to show everyone what you _used_ to look like before that fool tricked you into a curse. I have to say, while you are an adorable toddler you looked far better as an adult," Hotaru said primly.

"Wait, you know what Reborn looked like before?" said Dino, unable to stay silent. He had always wondered, but Reborn kept a tight lid on any pictures of what he originally looked like.

Hotaru blinked, before she beamed at him. He would swear he saw sparkles.

"Would you like to see? I can show you what all of them used to look like before the curse, or even how the Primo really acted when he was alive!" she chirped.

Dino perked up at that.

Hotaru took out a mirror about the size of a large bowl, and channeled _something_ into it. Her eyes glowed a bright orange and he could feel her flames settle in the room. It was far from an unpleasant feeling and made him relax.

Needless to say looking at a much _older_ version of his former tutor was a real eye opening experience. Not to mention Colonello. The difference was astounding, and he had to wonder how much of a hit Reborn's pride had taken upon realizing he now looked 'cute' rather than 'dangerously handsome'.

Then Hotaru's concentration slipped, and he saw people he didn't recognize.

"Who are they?"

The Storm almost winced.

"The Vindice, before they were cursed and became what they are now. Hotaru became _very_ popular when they realized she could get pictures of their old selves from before, because even they had forgotten what they originally looked like."

It was a bittersweet memory, but being able to actually see their past and remember their lives before That Man took everything from them was not something they would idly dismiss. Even Bermuda wanted to remember the times before the curse.

As a result, they took Hotaru's safety and neutrality very seriously and would react badly if the Vongola attempted to force the issue of her candidacy as Decimo.

Arashi found it very telling that Bermuda never once complained when Hotaru swept him up into a cuddle. He seemed to find her aura relaxing to be around.

Then again, he had to deal with the idiocy of the mafia on a daily basis, and Hotaru had never shown him anything less than respect and good behavior. Arashi felt nothing but empathy for him.

Dino sputtered at that.

"Wait, why did Reborn call you his student?"

"Because the Hibari hired him on as a 'general tutor' to insure my grades don't slip," said Hotaru. "Considering the Ninth gave him a false contract because he couldn't be bothered to keep track of potential heirs due to his arrogance, Reborn didn't mind taking it as it meant that they couldn't drag him into their mess. If something happens, he's free to break it at any time and walk away."

 _Now_ Dino got why Reborn called her his 'student'. He was just acting as her general tutor, rather than training her to be a mafia boss.

He found it very telling Reborn didn't complain about the way the girl scooped him up into a cuddle. He generally didn't appreciate being reminded of his small size, but with Hotaru he seemed to tolerate it to an extent.

Dino found himself falling into an easy 'older brother' role around Hotaru. The fact she reacted the same way a younger sibling would didn't hurt either. It was nice, being able to relax around someone and not have to worry about it being used against him later.

So he was quite surprised when her Storm pulled him aside with Reborn nearby.

"Do you need something?"

"I'm aware that as the head of the Cavallone you often get invited to large parties hosted by the Vongola," said Arashi bluntly. "I would like to know if it's possible for you to escort Hotaru to one as your 'date' to make it very clear to the Alliance that she has no ties to the Vongola and is an established neutral party according to the Vindice."

Dino blinked, before looking at Reborn.

"I know Timoteo. He'll likely drag Xanxus out from wherever he stashed him and attempt to have her marry back into the family that way. Both to keep the Primo's line under his control and to bind the Varia to the main family," said Reborn flatly. "The fact both of them are within the same age range doesn't hurt either."

"Needless to say I would like to make it very clear to the Vongola and the Alliance that she is not theirs to control. Particularly Iemitsu," said Arashi calmly. "However as it would be impossible for her to establish herself as a genuine neutral party by showing up on her own merit, Reborn helpfully 'suggested' that we use your connections instead."

"What are you attempting to accomplish?" asked Dino honestly.

"Hotaru has established a good relationship with the Vindice, who are...difficult... to work with as they rather dislike the headaches the mafioso put them through. Establishing her as a neutral party who could intercede with the Vindice regarding certain matters would allow her to be part of the underworld, without forcing her into a famiglia who would only treat her as a caged bird because of her flame type. Bermuda, who is the Vindice leader, has agreed to consider the idea if we can establish that sort of system up as it means freeing them of having to deal with the idiots directly," said Arashi.

Seeing Dino didn't fully get it, Reborn clarified it for him.

"She would become a neutral famiglia who's sole purpose is to act as an intermediary with the group in charge of regulating the mafia and protecting the secret of flames from the general populace, as well as providing a sanctuary to any civilians who have yet to understand the gravity of what it means to be able to play with 'pretty fires'," said Reborn dryly.

People like Skull, who had literally been shoved head first into the mafia regardless of his feelings on the matter, and who was still struggling to keep from being used as a mere pawn for the weaker famiglia. Or Reborn, who liked being freelance and didn't want the traditions and demands of a famiglia to tie him down.

"So what do you need me to do, outside of introducing her to the Alliance?" asked Dino with interest. "And potentially allying my famiglia with hers, to make it more official."

Reborn was discreetly pleased with his former student. Trust Dino to pick up on a potentially beneficial alliance without his input.

"Mostly we'll need you to gather some allies interested in having a neutral party capable of telling the Vongola where to shove their arrogance that have a 'good' reputation without being outright Alliance. People like the Gesso famiglia," said Arashi.

Hotaru was very hesitant to ally herself with the Giglio Nero, considering that was the famiglia Luce had been a part of before her death. She had no idea how much Aria took after her mother, nor did she want to find out just yet.

Dino nodded. He could do that.

"Hotaru also made it clear she would be interested in reaching out to the Varia, but she wants to wait until Xanxus is free before she attempts it."

"Why?"

Arashi didn't hide the smugness in his voice when he replied.

"She feels that the way Timoteo handled his adopted son was appalling, and wishes to offer Xanxus a way to make the Varia a _neutral_ faction of assassins, rather than make them dependant on the Vongola for missions, as the Ninth has made it abundantly clear he favors the External Adviser's group over the Varia. She is of the opinion he would attempt to restrict them to the point that they would be forced to make cut-backs on their numbers, which would mean a lot of assassins looking for work and causing trouble, rather than having them centralized in a group capable of reigning them in."

"And I thought she would have a problem with the idea of having a group of known killers, being a civilian," said Reborn in annoyance.

"You forgot to factor her in her hatred of Iemitsu for what he did to her and her mother. That and I explained it in a way that she could understand. She might not like it, but she can accept the fact that assassins are a necessary part of the underworld and that it's better to have them in one place rather than scattered about causing collateral damage," said Arashi.

Dino hummed. At least Hotaru had a Storm with a very good head on his shoulders to help keep her afloat.

"I'll keep an eye out for an invitation to one of the bigger parties and let you know when to get ready," he said. He then turned a hopeful look on Arashi. "Would you object to me visiting often? It's rare I get to meet a Sky who isn't trying to get one over me."

"Of course. Hotaru would only benefit from having an older brother figure who knows how to use Sky flames and she's rather partial to you already," said Arashi easily.

Dino hoped his flames didn't give off how happy the idea made him. Something about Hotaru made him want to spoil her like an adorable little sister, and she was just as quick to reciprocate it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Just so we're clear here, she's dating Arashi, not Kyouya. At this point Kyouya views her more as a little sister than anything.**

* * *

Xanxus was in a rather foul mood, and who could blame him? He had been frozen for eight years, _missed_ his grandmother and older brother's funeral and was only allowed out because the old bastard had a use for him.

And if that wasn't enough, the old fart openly threatened to kill his Elements if he failed to follow through on his grand plan to bring a Sky who had successfully managed to remove herself from the Vongola back in line!

Xanxus had never met the girl and the only information he knew was even remotely true was the fact she was Iemitsu's daughter, but didn't consider the man her father in any way, shape or form.

Mammon had been _very_ busy the second Reborn canceled his contract the very day he entered Japan. Reborn wouldn't do something like that on a whim, especially since he was the Ninth's unofficial personal hit man, and the contract had been made out to the Vongola.

Iemitsu's lack of interest in his family was really biting him in the ass now.

Nothing in the file CEDEF had on her was true anymore, and the only thing they had right was her first name and her gender. It was that bad.

Xanxus looked at the recently updated file Mammon had barely managed to put together.

The girl was barely five foot four, had more than just the usual set of six guardians (though all the extras usually had a 'lesser' flame bond, but still just as binding) and was reportedly on _very_ good terms with the Vindice.

Her Storm was the one who had his full attention though.

Hibari Arashi, roughly the same age as his Cloud cousin. A Storm with a decent Cloud secondary who's territory seemed to revolve around his Sky in particular. A blunt and somewhat devious person who was reportedly the son of the late Storm Arcobaleno. He was the main source behind his Sky's removal from the Vongola succession and why Reborn was so quick to cancel his contract. He clearly knew his way around the underworld better than someone his age should and had a known mastery of martial arts unheard of.

Though if he had been trained by his father personally then it made a lot of sense. Of course Fon would want to insure his skills were passed down to his heir.

However Xanxus hadn't made the head of the Varia _just_ because Squalo handed the position over to him. He had seen a memory of what the World's Strongest had looked like directly from Mammon and the resemblance to the Storm and his son was far too strong for it to be a coincidence.

Last he checked, cloning had yet to reach the point where they could duplicate someone that perfectly and something about the skill the Storm used to remove his Sky from the control of the old bastard said he had _experience_ no teen his age should have normally.

Xanxus would bet good money Fon had accidentally found a way to remove the curse that couldn't be easily replicated, and had faked his death to hide that fact and so he could be with his Sky without the Triads trying to use her against him. It fit the facts far better than some random nobody killing him out of the blue and how this 'Arashi' was able to pull off the stunts he had.

The main reason Xanxus even focused on the Storm was simple. The old bastard wanted him to 'seduce' the fifteen year old girl and have her marry back into the family so he could reclaim control over the bloodline.

Except all of Mammon's findings indicated her Storm had taken the initiative to court his Sky as a female...and from what they had found out, the girl was clearly falling for him.

If this Arashi _was_ Fon, then it made perfect sense he would personally insure his Sky wouldn't become prey to an older man who wanted to use her for his own ends. Being her boyfriend insured that she wouldn't fall for such tricks and kept things 'in-house' so to speak.

It was something he knew his Nonna would have approved of immensely, as she detested political marriages.

Xanxus hated the old man...but the threat against his Elements was very real. He wouldn't put it past that bastard to kill them if he didn't follow orders. He no longer even pretended he cared about him...he used the word father like another title, as if Xanxus should show him respect simply for taking him in.

It disgusted him, the sheer level of arrogance that bastard had. He wished he had seen it before.

He could only hope the old bastard croaked soon, preferably when a proper heir from the _mafia_ side of things was found and named.

As Xanxus walked past one of the many mirrors in the hallway, he would have sworn he saw a _face_ in one of them. And it wasn't his own.

He turned to look properly, only for it to disappear. However he was Varia Quality, and Mists could do all sorts of things if they were creative enough about it.

He made a note to avoid any direct contact with mirrors for a while.

* * *

Hotaru had to blink. Had Xanxus seen her?

"Well?" asked Reborn curiously.

"Xanxus is free, and I'm fairly certain he's been ordered to seduce me in order to bring me back into the family that way," said Hotaru. She paused for a moment. "And I think he _saw_ me in the mirror."

"...It _is_ possible. I doubt any sound could pass through it, but there is a chance that Mirror was able to connect the two via the reflective surfaces," said Arashi after a moment. "Actually it's more than possible...you've used Mirror and Time more than some of the others and I know that communication mirrors are a thing among the magical community."

Seeing he had the full interest of Reborn and Hotaru, Arashi smiled.

"I can get some of them for you and Mirror to play around with. Being able to communicate from any reflective surface would be a very useful thing to have."

Hotaru perked up at that. She loved learning about magic, even if learning about the politics made her head hurt something awful.

Reborn had found out about the spirits rather quickly and was very put off that Hotaru could freeze him in a blink of an eye using Time with no way for him to stop it.

Then again hearing exactly why she had done it in the first place, he almost felt smug that she considered him a threat right off the bat enough to use such a unique ability in order to escape. It meant she respected him as a hit man enough to take him seriously without having to go through any hoops.

He still knew something was up with Arashi and not because he had a second 'personality' in his head that looked like a Chinese angel of sorts!

It was fascinating, learning about magic.

* * *

Dino looked at the invitation to the Halloween ball. Personally after having a long chat with Hotaru and Arashi, he couldn't understand why no one saw the sheer arrogance Timoteo Vongola had, or the fact he kept his power a little too close to the chest.

Enrico had been more than old enough to inherit, and yet the old man had kept putting it off right up until his son died from a stupid raid he never should have been involved in. If Enrico had been Decimo, then he might still be alive today.

Considering how much the Vongola liked to show off and the number of dons that would be there, Dino felt it safe enough to bring Hotaru...so long as he could secure permission for his 'date' to bring one or two of her Guardians with her.

Sure, it would mean exposing he had found a female Sky of the right age, but it would also send a lot of plans crashing down for the Ninth.

The mafia _needed_ a good shaking up. Now that his eyes were open, he was having trouble believing how blind he had been to how stagnant it had become while the Ninth was in power.

Besides... Dino was a student of Reborn. You either learned to appreciate a certain level of sadism and chaos, or you went insane.

It took a few days, but he secured an invitation for his 'date' and two of her Guardians, as well as two of his own.

Now to let Hotaru and her people know.

He couldn't wait to see the chaos that unfolded.

* * *

Hotaru was nervous, and who could blame her? She was in a pit of sharks ready to eat her alive the second they knew who and what she was. To make matters worse, _they_ would be there.

Arashi kept a respectful distance that indicated he trusted her to protect herself, but was well within range of him being able to reach her in seconds.

Kero was currently disguised and hiding in a small pouch under the skirt of Hotaru's dress. She wore a pair of shorts under it to insure she didn't flash anyone in the event it became too torn, along with a sports bra that covered enough for her to maintain her modesty.

Considering Reborn had 'helpfully' showed her what one of his special bullets could do, she had become particularly paranoid about wearing specially treated flame proof clothing under her normal clothes.

That sort of attack would create untold trauma on any girl it was used on, especially after puberty hit properly.

After some intense debating, Chrome was chosen to act as the second Guardian to join Hotaru.

Mainly because she had displayed a rather interesting resonance with Mukuro to the point he could _literally_ possess her long enough to use his own illusions through her. As a female, Chrome could go places Arashi could not such as the bathroom or to help Hotaru change. She also had a shy and slightly meek aura around her that would make any mafioso dismiss her as a threat right off the bat, despite her flame type.

Between those three and the fact the former Clow Cards were always with her, unseen or felt by anyone save those that practiced magic in the first place (who generally kept separate from the mafia to begin with), she was as protected as she was likely to get under the circumstances.

It was still highly nerve-wracking being there, particularly since she registered Iemitsu's presence nearby...with a date. She inwardly seethed, because her mother was suffering alone back in Namimori and here the bastard was living it up in Italy as if he didn't have a wife and daughter!

She felt the warmth that came from the silent support of the spirits, and the 'anticipation' Fight and Sword had the second she gave them _permission_ to let loose on him.

Sadly she couldn't give them permission. Not here and now.

They needed to be subtle and discreet until it was time to send most of the Ninth's plans to use her crashing down.

She trusted in Arashi's plan, and the fact that Bermuda was _personally_ keeping an eye on her to help facilitate a quick escape to the Vindicare long enough for news to spread about a neutral famiglia that would act as an intermediary for the mafia and the Vindice, should the need call for it.

He would not allow the Vongola to forcibly reclaim her against her will, not when she could be very useful in the future.

After all, she was the main reason Arashi was able to remove the pacifier it the first place, much less how he had been able to maintain his current age until his flames and magic stabilized. If they could figure out how Yue had managed to pull that off, it would mean being one step closer to removing the pacifiers from the world altogether, striking a blow against Checkerface.

Either way, they wanted to keep a close eye on Arashi and having her as their personal intermediary made it easier for both parties to get what they wanted. Hotaru got protection from the Vongola, and the Vindice got a potential avenue to ridding the world of the Arcobaleno curse once and for all.

Didn't make this any easier on her though.

Spotting a familiar face, Hotaru nudged Dino towards where Squalo was. He looked very irritated, and kept glaring at the Ninth and Iemitsu.

Dino obligingly made a beeline for them, hiding their true objective.

"Voi, what do you want Bucking Horse?" said Squalo irritably.

Dino felt something pass and assumed Chrome had made a discreet barrier.

In reality Hotaru had Silent insure no one overheard what they said and Illusion kept anyone from reading their lips. As far as they knew, Dino was making small talk with an old school friend over some rumors he heard.

" _It's safe to talk,"_ said Hotaru. Since her Italian wasn't very good, she stuck to Japanese.

Squalo raised an eyebrow at that, but easily switched to Japanese as well.

" _Voi. What do you want?"_ he demanded.

" _I want to give your boss an 'out' from the Ninth's heavy-handed manipulations. At least until a proper Decimo takes over. I find it appalling that the old bastard lied to him about his adoption and then left him frozen in that ice block for eight years, only to free him because he suddenly found one of his potential pawns was no longer under his control,"_ said Hotaru bluntly. She was borrowing a page out of Arashi's book...when it doubt, be as blunt and straightforward as possible.

Squalo froze in shock.

" _Who are you?"_

Hotaru smirked and pulled off her mask. If he was in shock before, it was nothing compared to realizing he was in front of the same girl the Ninth had all but ordered his Sky to seduce in order to reclaim her. She easily put it back on.

" _...What makes you think you have any authority to give us an out?"_ asked Squalo.

Hotaru carefully took out some paperwork and handed it over, waiting patiently for Squalo to read it. He knew it was the real deal, as he recognized the Vindice seal and flame signature. Anyone with any power at all knew it.

He read it twice, and then a third time because he was having trouble believing it.

" _You want to make a famiglia who's sole purpose is to act as an intermediary with the Vindice?"_ he said incredulous.

" _I also intend to provide sanctuary to civilians who suddenly find themselves with Active flames, like Skull was before the curse. In exchange for their backing, the Vongola will be unable to force me back into the family without pissing off the Honorable Law Keepers. It also means a lot less work having to keep track of the civilian-born flame users for the Vindice, and they don't have to interact with the various famiglia over their prisoners."_

Squalo could tell she was being genuine about this. The paperwork alone said that this was a legitimate attempt to insure that the Ninth was screwed over in regards to the succession issue, because he was an arrogant dick who deserved it. It was about time someone stood up to the bastard.

And with the _Vindice_ being her backers, there was literally no way the Vongola could strong arm them into handing her over.

" _...Why are you offering us an 'out'?"_

" _One, because it will royally piss off the Ninth. And Two, because anyone with eyes can see he favors CEDEF over the Varia and won't hesitate to try and 'downsize' your group purely because of his own insecurities and because he doubts Xanxus' loyalty, despite the fact that he genuinely wants the Vongola to remain strong,"_ said Hotaru flatly. _"This way the Varia gets to keep their jobs...more or less...and the Vindice don't have to deal with a large number of ex-Quality on the streets trying to make a living because the Ninth is being an idiot and causing chaos. They would rather have you all in one group than deal with the loose cannons that are in your organization."_

Squalo stared...and then he started to laugh. It wasn't a nice one, but it said volumes of his opinion to that statement. He was actually rather pleased.

" _Voi! I would have thought a civvie would shirk away from having a large number of assassins at their disposal!"_ he smirked. But there was no doubt in Hotaru's mind he was going to pass this along to Xanxus later.

Her flat look almost had him cackling.

" _My genetic donor is Iemitsu. As Arashi helpfully pointed it out, when Reborn brought that very subject up, the odds of me being able to murder him personally are too low to consider. However the Varia has a large number of people who would likely perform the deed for free if I gave them a reason to like me enough, since the man has never qualified as my 'father' in the first place and it's unlikely to be considered patricide,"_ deadpanned Hotaru.

Squalo's grin was pure evil and would have made Dino shiver if it were _ever_ pointed in his direction. The older Sky knew without a doubt that Hotaru had made an ally with that particular comment.

Hell, Xanxus would rather _happily_ murder Iemitsu in a brutal fashion if he even thought he could get away with it. No one liked that arrogant jackass!

Squalo hid the paperwork and the phone number/Skype address Hotaru gave him. He would need to talk with his Sky before they made any plans.

Either way, he could firmly state that the small Sky wasn't Trash like her stupid father. Not with that sort of backbone!


	15. Chapter 15

Hotaru steeled her courage, but it seemed Timoteo and Iemitsu sensed something was up. That or their 'Hyper Intuition' as Reborn called it warned them of a great deal of Chaos was about to hit and hit hard.

Arashi was helpfully recording _everything_ for Reborn to watch via a discreet camera, since his presence would have ruined everything. He wasn't very good at masking his flames, to his annoyance.

Since Timoteo hadn't announced to the Alliance that his last 'heir' had effectively removed herself from the Vongola famiglia, and that the breaking of Reborn's contract had been firmly kept in-house, so to speak, it was doubtful anyone there was aware of the fact that the Vongola had no other heirs save for Xanxus.

And Timoteo would never dare consider the _adopted_ son a candidate, for all he paraded the man around as a child as his bastard son.

She had to wait for the opportune moment to unleash all out chaos.

And wouldn't you know it, Iemitsu the Idiot provided the perfect opening by bragging about how his "little bug" would soon be leading the Vongola within hearing of several important Dons.

Arashi couldn't help but feel Hotaru spent a wee bit too much time around Reborn, because the smirk on her face was almost identical to the one the Sun often had before unleashing some prime chaos.

Chrome and Arashi discreetly took formation and waited for their Sky to get to work.

Thanks to a little Mist manipulation (via Mukuro borrowing Chrome's body), everyone heard her speak in Italian, rather than the Japanese she was actually using. It was tricky, but the entertainment of what Hotaru planned to do to the Vongola more than made up for any headaches he would get from it.

"I find it _fascinating_ that you parade your 'daughter' around as the next donna of the Vongola when you and the Ninth deliberately cast her out of the line of succession when she was five and presented as a Sky for the first time," said Hotaru in a sharp, crisp tone. "Particularly since the Vindice have already made it clear they no longer consider her a Vongola or part of the famiglia in any way, shape or form."

Dead silence as her words sunk in. Iemitsu was already up and giving her a dark look for spilling that particular secret.

Hotaru wasn't finished.

"After all, didn't _Reborn_ cancel his contract immediately upon reaching Japan because you hired him under false pretenses of a _civilian heir?"_ said Hotaru with a dark smile.

Inwardly she was having a panic attack, but outwardly she was a cool as a cucumber.

"May I ask what your name is, Miss..." said Timoteo, though you could tell he was pretty pissed.

Hotaru made sure all eyes were on her...before she calmly removed her mask.

"I would have hoped you would bother to do a simple background check on who your allies were bringing as their date. Clearly the Vongola's arrogance is worse than I thought possible. Then again, it's not like either you bothered to keep track of me after you so callously placed a seal on my flames for no other reason than Iemitsu's idiotic belief that keeping me a civilian was the best way to protect his so-called _family_. After all, he's the one gallivanting around Italy without giving a second thought about the wife who has been patiently waiting for him to come home and actually spend time with her," said Hotaru coldly.

Everyone was watching the entire showdown with baited breath. No one had ever _dared_ to back talk to the Vongola in decades, especially not so openly. Not since Daniela's death several years ago.

She would no doubt enjoy the show...if she wasn't fuming over her son's idiotic decisions.

Hotaru looked at both of them dead in the eye. Her disdain of them both was clearly evident on their face, and to the eyes of the collective Dons, it was as if Daniela Vongola had come back to life in the form of a Japanese teenager.

She had practiced for _ages_ with Reborn's help and observing the former Ottava rather thoroughly for visual queues and behavioral patterns so that she could successfully emulate Daniela in her prime.

The woman had managed to lead the Vongola through a world war, despite the rather misogynist view the mafia had about female Skies at the time and opposition from quite a few of her own allies...and she had come out on top at the end. No one would dare claim Daniela was anything less than a complete bad ass and a perfectly acceptable role model for female Skies everywhere.

Unlike Luce.

Seeing the Ninth's Storm and Cloud attempt to come near her, she quelled them with a glare, eyes blazing with Sky flame. Every bit of her radiated immediate violence if they attempted to come anywhere near her range.

"May I ask how you managed to remove the seal?" asked Timoteo pleasantly.

"It's none of your business how I removed the seal that would have ruined my life. You were so eager to remove a potential rival for your sons that you failed to take into account the effects of Sky attraction. Thanks your arrogance my childhood was a living hell and if not for my Storm realizing what was causing all the harassment and abuse I was going through, I would still have it on me," she said coldly. "You condemned an innocent child who's only 'crime' was being born with a Sky flame to a childhood of loneliness, harassment, and having Elements within reach but never being able connect, purely because you felt it was your _right_ to keep them out of mafia matters."

Hotaru had no doubt that this particular party would be hitting the rumor mill the _second_ the dons left the party.

She knew the Italians viewed Skies as damn near royalty, from what Reborn and Arashi had told her. She had little doubt that once the dons looked up the effects sealing an Active flame would have on the survivors, they would cause all sorts of trouble for the Ninth.

She was just calling them out on their behavior and actions...it was long past time someone _did_ , in her opinion.

She made sure to look at the vast majority of the dons around her.

"If you wish to see for yourself as to my allegiance, you can request a copy of the same paperwork the Vindice sent to my Storm when he informed them of their actions. I want to make it perfectly clear that while I do hold the bloodline of Giotto Vongola, I am not part of their famiglia. Nor do I intend to _marry back into it_ , as the Ninth will no doubt attempt after this. I want nothing to do with a famiglia so incompetent and arrogant that they lost three Skies and alienated the fourth in such short order," said Hotaru bluntly.

Because really, they should have ramped up the protection of the heirs after Enrico was killed, to say nothing of Massimo. That Timoteo lost all three of his blood sons was his own damn fault.

Dino was quick to get his date out of there, making it clear he sided with Hotaru without saying as much. Either way, Hotaru didn't feel safe until she was back in the Hibari mansion with the rest of her Elements.

* * *

Hotaru had a headache, but that was only natural considering how quick Arashi was to hand her the paperwork to establish her growing family as a group that would act as neutral third-parties for the mafia and the Triads to contact the Vindice and hopefully arrange the freedom of members who had pissed off the Underworld's law enforcers. She wasn't about to get involved in any succession issues...that would mean getting into a rivalry with the Cervello, who acted as the 'neutral judges' for that sort of thing...but it did mean regular contact with Bermuda, who tended to crash in without much warning for tea while dragging Jaeger and the others with him.

Considering the mafia and Triads were "properly respectful" (read: scared the hell out of) whenever the Vindice were around, he found her behavior rather refreshing.

Besides, Hotaru was turning out to be a very good baker and cook. She didn't mind if they just so happened to grab all the snacks left on the counter when they left to share with the others later, since it was doubtful they could buy them normally.

Hotaru felt the odd 'badge' Bermuda had given her once they finally settled on a name for their group. It marked her as an official "neutral" among the underworld and had just enough of his Flames of Night that the mafia would understand she was under their protection. Her neutrality was assured so long as that was active.

Everyone who had harmonized with her and had managed to acquire some level of actual diplomacy had a badge, but hers looked the most official.

They were known as the Yatagarasu group, for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, because Hotaru was firmly Japanese and thus a devout follower of the Shinto Pantheon, and the patron goddess of Japan was Amaterasu who ruled over the Sun. The second reason was because of Keroberos, who had been the one to properly open up her world when the cards were let out and helped her to regain her broken confidence by reclaiming them...he was the _Sun_ guardian. Third was because of what the Yatagarasu represented, which was acting as a minor Sun-based kami in the form of a three-legged crow that provided guidance and rebirth.

Considering Reborn was a Sun and often reminded her of a particularly mischievous crow tengu, Hotaru felt that the name was very appropriate. He had certainly _preened_ like a smug tengu when she explained about the mythology behind the Yatagarasu and why she immediately compared him to one, shortly after they established their new Family.

He did not regret bonding with Hotaru as her _official_ Sun Element, by mafia standards. Kero was good, but he wasn't human and had little experience in the underworld.

At most the mafioso would consider him an overpowered familiar, not a Sun Guardian. And Ryohei only had a lesser Element bond with her to begin with.

The reason for her current headache was yet another subtle attempt from the Ninth generation to reclaim control over her via their allies.

She sent a politely worded "NO" that stated explicitly that she would only leave Japan _personally_ for official family business, as their group was still becoming established as a proper family by underworld standards and as their Sky it was a bad idea for her to get out and about just yet.

Honestly, it was like Timoteo didn't take her seriously as a fellow Sky or as a threat! Yes, she was originally a civilian but that didn't mean she was unable to learn how things worked! Arashi had been very helpful when he realized the Vindice were more inclined to humor them because they were polite and did the bulk of the research that could easily be backed up by hard facts for them in explaining the politics of being part of a Family.

Sure, some of it left her appalled, but she would much rather strike out on her own than be turned into a puppet for the Ninth to stay in power, albeit from the shadows.

Considering what she had seen of his own less than stellar decision making skills of late, she wanted nothing to do with the Vongola until a proper Decimo was installed that _wasn't_ a puppet for the previous generation.

The next letter was from the Varia, which had Hotaru straighten up and attempt to emulate Daniela a bit.

When Reborn first figured out what she was trying to do, he had approved of it so much that he started to quietly correct her whenever it slipped. Emulating Daniela was a good habit for her to get into, since she was now stuck in the underworld.

It would allow her to survive far better than her previous meek and timid personality. Hotaru hated that part of herself so much that she didn't mind Reborn's less than gentle reminders that she was stronger now and could handle the pressure.

As it was often said, "Assume the lie as the truth, until the lie _becomes_ the truth."

Or, as Arashi put it when he first explained the concept to her, she was trying to discard her previous "reinforced" behavioral patterns for a new kind. She just had to ingrain the idea that she wasn't the same "meek and timid" girl that had been bullied extensively into her head to the point her subconscious didn't revert to that persona when she was under great pressure. The fact she chose a personality like Daniela to emulate would only help her in the long run, now that she was officially part of the wider Underworld as a growing power.

Hotaru made sure to have Mukuro check it first, for any lingering Mist traces. She was "kind", not Stupid.

"It's clean."

Reborn watched with growing approval as she took out a pair of gloves and pulled out the letter.

"Xanxus wants to meet up with me in a neutral location to discuss the offer I passed along through Squalo. He's found a loophole for him to remove most of the Varia with him and he's interested in seeing what sort of leader I am before he commits to anything. He wants to know if he can bring some of his Elements with him, if possible."

"Tell him he can bring three. That's enough to make him feel more secure with the situation, but not so much to leave the Varia without any of it's officers," suggested Arashi.

Hotaru pulled out a piece of stationary. Arashi had them specially made so that she could appear more "official" as the intermediary for the Vindice.

The symbol for their new family was simple enough. It was a picture of a smug looking three legged crow with a clock in the background.

For some reason Arashi kept calling her a "timeless Sky", though he refused to explain why.

Hotaru wrote a reply with a few dates, times and locations, before sealing it with her flames and a hint of her magic.

Nearby Meilin took the letter and handed it off to one of the strays Hotaru had taken in. It would reach Italy by tomorrow at the earliest.

They were quickly becoming an established power in Namimori. Kyouya was just pleased that he wouldn't have to claim a new territory, and that he could maintain control over his current one in exchange for allowing his men to go out and work as an information network.

He already absorbed the lone Yakuza group in the city...they submitted readily enough once Arashi "explained" to them what was going on and why.

Hotaru...still wasn't sure she was particularly comfortable with how happily Kyouya had taken to the idea of acting in roughly the same capacity that Iemitsu _should_ have been for the Vongola. Mostly because it meant drawing comparisons between her Cloud and the man who should have been her father, but wasn't.

A few days later, she got a reply back. They would be there within a week in one of the agreed locations.

Now the hard part. Convincing Xanxus it was worth the trouble he was going to have to remove the Varia from Vongola control and put his fate in her hands.

She was not looking forward to that.


	16. Chapter 16

It was a scene that would have Squalo checking for Mist-trickery, because he was _not_ expecting to come across his Sky actually _crying_ so openly.

"...What the hell did your Sky show ours that would result in that?" demanded Mammon to Arashi.

"Hotaru-chan can see into the past, and show it to others. She has actual pictures of Reborn and the others as adults, and has taken to observing Daniela in her prime to better emulate the woman. She is merely showing Xanxus what his mother was like before she became a prostitute and the few good times he had with her, since odds are he has forgotten them," explained Arashi. "It's part of the reason why the Vindice like her so much."

"Voi... she can see into the past? How the hell can she pull that off?" said Squalo in shock.

"To put it simply, magic. That and she has a rather strong affinity for scrying into time, but the future is simply too hazy to bother with," said Arashi shrugging.

The Ten-Year-Bazooka merely followed the _most likely_ path to the future, rather than actually borrowing from it. The main reason the Bovino couldn't make it work for more than five minutes was because the future was always in flux, and reliably borrowing from it for too long was impossible. They were lucky that the device managed to avoid the whole paradox issue by switching the one hit with their past selves. It prevented them from canceling each other out.

Seeing into the past and present was simple, compared to that.

"Just so you know, I can take pictures by freezing the image," said Hotaru helpfully.

Xanxus perked up at that. He had no pictures of his Ma from before, and anything he might have had would have been destroyed or 'lost' after the coup. The Ninth didn't exactly want to encourage the chance he would 'remember his roots' after all.

"How much?" asked Xanxus. He'd happily pay any amount.

Hotaru smiled at him, and he subconsciously started to relax. Her flames weren't trying to force themselves on him, just offer a safety blanket of sorts.

"It's free. After all, I would rather have a casual and friendly relationship with the Varia than anything remotely similar to the way the Ninth has been treating you. Besides...I highly doubt you have any pictures of her to remember her by," said Hotaru honestly.

Xanxus...didn't know how to feel about that.

"Can you find out who my actual father was?"

"Difficult, considering her profession. But I'm sure if we did some digging we could get a few leads on who to check for a paternity test, considering the gestation period for humans," commented Arashi. "Is there any chance your mother was a Sky or Storm?"

"She might have had flames, but I have no idea what type," said Xanxus.

His ma _had_ to have some connection to the Cosa Nostra for her to be so certain of the Ninth being his father. He had no idea who her famiglia was, or even if she had Flames before her mind became so addled, nor did he have any idea where to look.

"By the way, what was the loophole you found that would allow you to break away from the Vongola?" asked Reborn.

"We found a rule written by the Secundo that basically states if there is a question of the succession that the Varia was allowed to remove itself from the famiglia until a new don is appointed and manages to stay in power for at least five years. It was to keep the heirs from trying to drag us into what would only become an internal conflict, thus weakening the famiglia," said Squalo.

"Since the old fucker won't release that I'm adopted to our allies, that means we can legally remove ourselves citing that I want to make a serious bid as a potential heir to the throne and I don't want to cause a conflict of interest when the next Boss is chosen," said Xanxus bluntly.

Reborn smirked.

"Sneaky. He either tells the other families that you aren't his son, thus invalidating you to the Vongola throne, or he has to accept you as the heir and give you an honest chance to lead anyway. Either way he's backed into a corner where his own power base is weakened considerably," said Reborn with approval.

"I don't care _who_ leads the Vongola, so long as they quit trying to force me into a role I don't want and they leave me the hell alone," said Hotaru sharply. "I want absolutely nothing to do with them after what Iemitsu and his boss put me through."

Xanxus eyed the way Arashi and Hotaru interacted and hid a smirk. Seducing her was firmly off the table, considering he had doubts the Storm would back off if he tried to show any interest in courting Hotaru as a woma. While she had a fire in her that he could approve of, he had the distinct feeling Arashi can and would fight for her.

And if Arashi really _was_ Fon like he suspected, then that would be more trouble than it was worth.

Besides, that meant actually giving the old bastard what he wanted, which was regaining control over the Primo's bloodline. Considering the only reason he had released Xanxus was because he had discovered the girl had managed to get out from under his thumb, and had threatened his Elements if he didn't cooperate, Xanxus was in no mood to humor his demands.

* * *

 _With the Varia..._

"Voi... Boss, what do you think of her?"

"She's not trash," said Xanxus simply. Which was a very _high_ complement considering he called everyone trash.

Squalo snorted.

"Daniela would have loved her...right before corrupting her to the point that she had a mini-me running around," said Squalo.

"Did you see the way she treated her Storm? You might have some competition there boss," said Lussuria.

Xanxus rolled his eyes.

"Like hell I do. Not worth pissing off the Storm Arcobaleno over a woman. Would rather have her as an ally instead."

"What makes you think Arashi is Fon?" asked Mammon intently. Though they had privately come to the same conclusion themselves.

Arashi acted and spoke far too much like the annoying martial artist had to be a coincidence. There were some behaviors that were _impossible_ to replicate, no matter how close you were to the other person.

Arashi wasn't trying to imitate the little queues that Fon had. Queues Mammon had memorized a long time ago because Fon found it amusing to disguise himself in order to annoy them and occasionally one-up Reborn. Why he bothered, the Mist had no idea but it was very annoying when they realized that the food vendor they were talking to was Fon and not some random Asian.

"Storm is too experienced and was far too adept at removing his Sky from Vongola control. That and the way he kept glancing at the pacifier around Reborn's neck every so often without realizing it," said Xanxus flatly. "I bet you anything if we did a DNA sample between him and Fon it would come up as an almost perfect match."

"You think he managed to break the curse," said Mammon.

Which pissed them off because they had been looking into that for decades and only barely managed to find a way to disguise the 'warning' system the pacifiers had whenever another one of them was around.

"Only explanation."

Considering who they were talking about, it came as no surprise when Arashi visited them on the sly the next morning.

Arashi was entirely calm about the fact Mammon got into his face with an irate expression on their face.

"Talk, or I will make your life hell."

"I was already under a curse _before_ Luce's betrayal, and the events that lead to the pacifier falling off are nearly impossible to replicate. It was simply easier to fake my death than explain what happened...besides, I had no idea where you were and this meant I could troll Reborn."

"..."

Okay, trolling Reborn was a pretty good reason to keep quiet on the matter. The Sun was a complete ass who deserved it.

Still hurt that Fon managed to escape their curse and they couldn't.

"What do you mean you were already under a curse?"

"Have you ever heard of Clow Reed?"

Surprisingly enough, Belphegor recognized the name immediately.

"Are you taking about the peasant who created the Clow Cards?!"

Arashi stared at him in disbelief.

"You've already met Cerberus in his conservative form. After I stole them, I was cursed with his counterpart Yue. The Moon Guardian didn't want something as ridiculous as the curse Luce put on us to keep him from doing his job, so he used his Cloud flames to propogate my Storm until the pacifier overloaded and fell off. Of course by doing so I was left weakened and my Flames took a few months to resettle with a new secondary, but I'd say the result was worth it."

"...You _stole_ the Clow Cards?" said Belphegor incredulous.

"They went to their intended owner anyway, so there's no harm done. From what I understand, young Sakura is almost finished converting them to run off her own magic, rather than the remnants of Clow's power," said Arashi. "...Even if she does have to create two new Guardians afterwords. Though considering Clow's reincarnation is in the area the last I heard, odds are he'll assist her in their creation. He wasn't too happy when he found out that the cards were missing the spirits that he had trapped into them."

Yue was, for reasons they had yet to figure out, able to jump into the body of Sakura's Rain guardian Yukito. Arashi didn't ask questions he didn't particularly care to learn the answer to, especially with something as headache inducing as the subject was.

All he cared about was that he could occasionally get some peace and quiet in his head...and that Yue was apparently a bit of a voyeur with a thing for Sakura's older brother and Cloud guardian Touya.

That had been an awkward time for the two, but they had learned to adjust because Yue was very good at respecting boundaries... and the two apparently had a wing kink. Arashi was _never_ going to ask.

"So that's how you broke the curse...you combined magic with flames to overload it," mused Belphegor.

Sensing the intense interest of Mammon on the subject, Arashi held up a hand.

"There is a _possibility_ that magic might be able to help remove the curse from you. But as I said, the circumstances which turned me into a teenager again without the pacifier are unique and I had Yue inside my head for well over six years before we were gathered as the next set of Arcobaleno."

Either way Mammon was definitely not letting this go.

"By the way...would you like to join me in trolling Reborn until he figures out who I am?"

"God yes," said Mammon without thinking. "Let me get a few cameras."

Arashi grinned.

"He knows _something_ is up with me, but he has no idea I'm Fon. For all his 'mind reading', he hasn't figured it out yet."

Mammon cackled. This was going to be hilarious.

* * *

Reborn glared at Arashi, or rather Fon.

"I _knew_ there was something off about you!" he said accusingly.

"But you never figured it out, did you?" said Arashi smugly. "Besides, I prefer being Arashi over Fon any day."

Reborn seethed, but he couldn't blame the Storm for faking his death in order to remain close to his Sky. If the Triads had known the truth, they wouldn't have hesitated to try and get their claws into Hotaru just because she had Fon.

Faking his death was one of the _best_ ways to insure her safety, and by this point things had settled enough that all of Fon's previous contacts had been switched over to his "son" anyway, who had none of Fon's commitments as a member of the Triads.

That being said, he was somewhat annoyed that Fon played him for close to a year.

He would have his revenge.

* * *

 _A few days later..._

It was just an idle 'prank' from Reborn that sparked it. He bribed Mukuro (via the thought of the chaos it would cause) into giving Kyouya cat ears for an entire day, leaving several nosebleeds from his discreet fan base in their wake. Of course since the resemblance between Kyouya and Arashi was so close, it hadn't taken much for Hotaru to wonder what _Arashi_ would look like in cat ears.

Chrome had blushed at the idea...likely because she was imagining _Mukuro_ with cat ears...before giving the storm a pair of black panther ears that were roughly modeled after Kero's true form.

The effect was instant, and Hotaru experienced her first proper nosebleed at the sight of it. She was barely able to hide her reaction to the sight from Arashi, though she had the distinct feeling he knew what she was thinking anyway.

She was a teenage girl with a lot of very nice eye candy to look at, and Arashi had _zero_ qualms about doing his katas without a shirt on and only a pair of loose pants. Add in the effect of black cat ears that twitched like normal ones and the 'tail' that was actually his braid, and it was enough to stir up some very...interesting... dreams.

Arashi smirked, and proceeded to act like a very...affectionate... cat around Hotaru, making it worse. Without having a shirt on.

Mukuro, sensing chaos and a chance to finally nudge the two into an actual relationship (that and to be a troll in general), took over the illusion from Chrome and continued to give Arashi cat ears for a week.

He also kept his own cat ears, because he found flustering Chrome very amusing.

Reborn was darkly amused at the chaos he created with a 'simple' suggestion.

Even if it meant watching the teenagers finally start to properly pair up with one another.

Hotaru and Arashi were finally making strides as a couple, Mukuro had staked his claim on Chrome, and Meilin had taken one look at Kyouya with cat ears before pouncing on him...after surviving an entire hour of a less than amused Kyouya's ire of course. He would never accept anyone weaker than he was.

At least Arashi was willing to wait (and frustrate the hell out of Hotaru) until his Sky was sixteen before making a move on her.


End file.
